


cinderella

by 00start_of_time00



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:28:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2333603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00start_of_time00/pseuds/00start_of_time00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles Stilinski was the popular lacrosse jock that everyone wanted to be friends with.  Everyone except for Lydia Martin.  But when they meet at a charity event, Lydia finds herself falling for him. Little does she know, he fell for her too; except he had no idea who she was.  [or: Cinderella AU]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> HEY GUYS  
> I'm kinda new to AO3, but some of you may have read my oneshot called "the rumor about stiles and lydia" and i hope you liked it.  
> i've posted this cinderella AU to fanfiction.net, and so you might have seen it if you check both sites, but if you haven't then here you go!  
> i'm still in the progress of writing, so bare with me.  
> love you all!!

Lydia Martin didn’t mind that she wasn’t a part of the popular crowd. She had her own group of friends that genuinely cared for her, unlike all the fake friends that were attracted to the popular kids.

There was Erica Reyes. Others might think that she’s some sort of bitch, but really, Lydia knew she was one of the nicest people ever, even if she didn’t want to show it. Erica was hot, and she knew it. She wasn’t afraid to show people, and she really didn’t care what other girls thought of it. Her confidence and disregard for other people’s thoughts and opinions are the things that make her and Lydia such good friends.

Then there was Boyd. Boyd was the quiet one. He barely talked, but he knew where his friends were. He leans on Erica most of the time and they’d become good friends. Boyd works at the ice rink and many kids at school make fun of him for it, but they didn’t know the many benefits that came with that kind of job. Boyd would always open the ice rink to his small group of friends after hours where they would skate and have fun all night long.

Isaac Lahey was Lydia’s best guy friend. Everyone in their friend group could agree that Lydia was closest with Isaac. They talked about everything and were always together at school. Isaac was on the lacrosse team, and he was friends with many of the popular kids on the team, but he never strayed away from his best friend. Lydia knew that no matter how many times he got invited to a stereotypical high school party or invited to sit with the popular kids at lunch, Isaac would always pick her. Always.

Lydia always saw Cora and Malia Hale as the same person. Not only because they were related, Malia was Cora’s cousin, but because their personalities were so similar. They were both sarcastic and harshly blunt with you, and sometimes it seemed as if they had no regard to your feelings whatsoever. But Lydia knew she could count on them for anything, and when the time came, they would back her up when she need them.

Lydia didn’t really consider Kira Yukimura, Liam Dunbar, and Mason a part of her friend group. Kira was kind of in both groups; she was friends with many of the outsiders, such as Lydia, Malia, and Isaac, but she was also really close with Scott McCall, which boosted her popularity a plenty. Liam and Mason were both on the varsity lacrosse team as freshmen, which created them some sort of popularity, but they found much comfort in the non judging environment of their friend group. Liam also seemed to have a little school boy crush on Lydia, which she was aware of; she found it cute and adorable, and accepted the flattery gratefully.

So yeah, if you went up to Lydia Martin and asked her if she was fine with her friends now, she would have said...

“Of course! Isaac, why would you even ask me that?”

She looked up to her tall, handsome best friend and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Isaac sighed as they approached her locker. He leaned next to her and crossed his arms as she opened the door to her locker.

“I don’t know, Lyds. I really wasn’t sure how you felt about us being on the sidelines all the time.”

Lydia glanced at him with a ridiculous look. “Isaac, I love our friends,” She told him simply. “And I couldn’t care less where my popularity stands. As long as I have you, I’m fine.”

Isaac let out a breath of relief as he uncrossed his arms.

“Good. I just wanted to make sure.”

As Lydia smiled at her best friend, she saw him look to the end of the hall where the star players of the lacrosse team were entering. Stiles Stilinski and Scott McCall strolled down the hall with their school bags as well as their lacrosse bags on their shoulders.

When they reached Isaac and Lydia, they stopped slightly in front of them.

“Isaac!” Stiles exclaimed with a grin.

Isaac returned a small smile as he glanced at Lydia. Stiles noticed the strawberry blonde standing next to his teammate and waved. “Uh..Laura, right?”

Lydia sighed with disappointment. Just as Isaac was about to correct him, surprisingly, Scott McCall beat him to it.

“No, it’s Lydia, yeah?”

Lydia turned to the tan teenager in front of her and gave him a big smile.

“That’s right.”

Stiles gave her a sheepish look as he turned to his best friend with a smirk. “Scott was the one who was always better with names.”

The bell rang, signaling the start of first period. Lydia looked to Isaac with a pleading look of getting out of their current situation, but Stiles spoke up. “So, Lahey, we’re going to drop off our lacrosse bags off to the locker room before first period, you wanna come with?”

Isaac threw another confused look to Lydia and they stared at each other for a moment before she sighed deeply.

“Go.” She told him.

Isaac gave her a grateful look before heading down the hall with Stiles and Scott.

Lydia walked to her first class alone.

/

“So, is Lydia your girlfriend or something?” Scott asked, trying to make conversation with his teammate.

Isaac gave him a funny look before bursting into laughter. Stiles and Scott shared a look before looking at him with confusion.

“What? What’s funny?” Stiles questioned.

After Isaac finished laughing, he looked at them, trying to look serious. “Lydia and I are purely just friends. Best friends, actually.” Isaac answered with a big grin. “I don’t think we could ever date. We just know each other too well.”

Stiles and Scott glanced at each other.

“Isn’t that great for a relationship?” Scott asked him.

Isaac simply just shrugged. “I can’t see myself dating her. She’s a great girl and I think she would actually be a perfect girlfriend,” He began to tell them. “But I’m not looking for perfect. Not now. And not her. She’s great as a best friend.”

Stiles and Scott remained quiet for the rest of the way down to the locker room, and Isaac began to get suspicious.

“Why did you guys think she was my girlfriend?”

The two stared at Isaac like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Really?” Stiles blurted. “It’s just you two seem so close. You’re always together…we thought that it was just always established that you two were a thing.”

Isaac shook his head immediately. “No, no. Not me and Lydia,” Isaac thought back to a certain freshman on the lacrosse team that had a a gigantic crush on the strawberry blonde. “Liam Dunbar though, he has a crush on Lydia.”

Stiles let out a laugh and grinned uncontrollably. “I hope you know that I will never stop bugging him about that.”

Isaac shrugged as they walked back up to the hallways.

“You didn’t hear it from me.” The three shared a laugh before Scott brought up a topic that Isaac himself had thought from time to time.

“So, you and Lydia…you’ve never had feelings for each other? Ever?”

Isaac was quiet for a few seconds because he was seriously contemplating it. He had never felt that way about Lydia, but what if she had for him?

“I never thought of her that way..” He said quietly.

Stiles raised an eyebrow. “But what about her?” He wondered. “You’ve seen those cliche movies. A girl and a guy are best friends, and the guy finds out the girl has been in love with him for years, and they end up dating.”

Isaac mentally shook his head out of that thought. “Why do you two keep asking about her?” He questioned. “It’s almost like you two want to date her.”

“I’m just curious because I think it’s almost impossible for a guy and a girl to be close friends without feeling some sort of feelings for each other at some point.” Stiles huffed out.

Isaac thought about it until they reached their classroom and walked inside.

Lydia was already sitting at their lab table, tapping a pencil on her notebook. She smiled brightly when she saw Isaac approaching in front of her.

“Hey.” She greeted.

“Hi.” He answered. “I’m sorry for ditching you. I just didn’t want to say ‘no’ to them, you know?”

Lydia gave him a soft smile before placing a warm hand on his knee.

“I understand. It’s okay, really, Isaac.”

Isaac’s eyes widened as he looked down at her hand and he quickly glanced up to see Scott and Stiles staring at him with knowing looks. When Lydia turned away from him to focus on her work, Isaac closed his eyes with worry.

_“Oh shit.”_


	2. Chapter Two

“Erica, have you noticed how weird Isaac has been acting today?” It was now lunch and Lydia couldn’t find her best friend anywhere.

“No. I mean, he was acting pretty stupid as always.” Erica replied before taking a bite of her apple. Lydia rolled her eyes at her before shaking her head. “Well, I haven’t seen much of his stupid today.” Lydia muttered under her breath.

Meanwhile, just outside the cafeteria doors, Isaac peered through the window of the doors, observing as Lydia searched for him. He sighed and turned around to face Stiles and Scott.

“You guys were right. She’s so into me.” He exclaimed with panic.

“We told you!” Stiles said pointedly.

“What am I supposed to do? Lydia’s my best friend, I don’t want to break her heart.”

Scott and Stiles looked away in thought.

“Just drop her hints that you’re not interested,” Stiles thought aloud. “Maybe she’ll get the idea. She’s a smart girl, right?”

Isaac nodded before putting his face in his hands. “I never thought I would be in this kind of situation, with her of all people! Lydia never mentioned to me that she had even looked at anyone that way.” Isaac explained.

Stiles just shrugged in response. “Because she was into the guy she was telling all this to,” He said. “Just go in there, and drop those hints.”

Scott watched Lydia frown defeatedly as Liam and Mason sat at the table she was sitting at, like she knew that her friend wasn’t coming to eat lunch with her today.

“Uh,” Scott started to say. “Why don’t you just ask her? I mean, if you two are close enough to talk about anything, I’m sure this can be just another one of those topics.”

Before Isaac could even open his mouth to express his opinion, Stiles was speaking for him. “And what if that just ruins their friendship?” He interjected.

Scott rolled his eyes. “I think Isaac has made it very clear that he and Lydia’s friendship is stronger than that.” Scott retorted.

“But you never know. Friendships can end pretty quickly and unexpectedly.” Stiles commented. “What if she was in love with him?”

Scott groaned that his best friend just pulled the “love” card.

“She’s sixteen years old, she can’t be in love. Not yet.”

“They’ve been friends for…” Stiles trailed on, not knowing the answer to the statement he was using to support his argument. He looked to Isaac expectantly. “How many years have you been friends?”

“Six years.” Isaac spat out quickly.

Stiles whipped his head back to Scott, pointing up at Isaac. “They’ve been friends for six years. I’m sure she could have fallen in love with him!”

Scott ran his hand through his hair, aggravated by this conversation and very, very, hungry.

“Stiles—“

“You and Allison!” Stiles interuppted him.

Isaac glanced at the lacrosse captain and it was safe to say the expression on Scott’s face was unreadable.

Isaac knew about Scott McCall and Allison Argent. Everyone knew about them. Everyone who knew Scott McCall or Allison Argent knew that the two were completely and utterly in love with one another. What happened to them was the thing almost no one knew about. Their break up was surprising and completely unexpected.

Isaac watched Scott carefully as he closed his eyes as if he was trying to forget about something. Probably trying to forget about her.

“We were just young and dumb kids in love.”

“But you were still in love, Scott. You, out of everyone at this school, knows how it feels to be in love with someone.” Stiles reminded him.

Scott’s eyes seemed to drift away as he began to watch Lydia again.

“You know what? This is stupid. Why don’t I just go talk to her?”

Before Isaac or Scott could say anything, he was already headed inside the lunchroom.

/

Lydia, as well as everyone else sitting at their table, were completely confused as Stiles Stilinski began to walk towards them. She turned to see Liam and Mason smiling at him, while the others who quietly whispering to those closest to them.

“Lydia,” Stiles called with a somewhat smile. “We need to talk.” He stopped in front of her, standing behind the chair that was across from her.

“We do?” Lydia questioned suspiciously. She became even more suspicious as she saw Isaac walk in with Scott.

“Yes.” Lydia turned her attention back to the boy in front of her as she raised her eyebrows in question.

“About what?” Stiles took a deep breath before giving her a comforting smile.

“We know you’re in love with Isaac.” Lydia’s eyes popped out of her head as she and everyone else at her table stared at him with their eyes wide and jaw dropped. It took her a minute to process just exactly what he said.

Lydia glanced to Isaac and Scott’s worried expressions and narrowed her eyes at Stiles.

“Excuse me?” Lydia asked incredulously. “What makes you think that?” She threw a glare over to Isaac as he took a few steps in her direction.

“It’s plainly obvious, really. You two are so close, apparently you do everything together and talk about everything, and the fact that you put your hand on his knee this morning confirmed everything for the three of us.”

Lydia blinked at the popular teenager that was sitting in front of her. She raised her eyebrows before leaning towards him.

“Well, I’m sad to say that you are oh so wrong,” Lydia told him, her eyes glaring into his soul. “Isaac and I are strictly just best friends, and that’s all. Every girl needs a guy best friend, and Isaac Lahey is it for me. I could never fall in love with him, or even date him for that matter,” She continued. “I wouldn’t date anyone in this school.”

Stiles’ eyebrows raised involuntary as he leaned back and observed her.

“Even me?” He asked with a smirk.

Lydia snorted loudly. “Please,” Lydia huffed. “You would be the last one I would date at this school.”

Before Stiles could even respond, Lydia kept going.

“If I had to pick between you and Aiden, I would pick Aiden.” She said pointing at his usual table. “If I had to pick between you and Liam, I would pick Liam.” Stiles glanced at the freshman sitting next to her and saw him blush a little. “If I had to pick between you and Scott, I would most definitely pick Scott McCall. I would pick anyone that wasn’t you, Stiles Stilinski, because you are just too mainstream for me.”

And with that, Lydia picked up her things and got up from the table, leaving Stiles in utter shock. She scoffed at Isaac and Scott before brushing past them and heading out of the lunchroom.

/

 

“Shit, we messed up a bunch, didn’t we?”

“What if she never talks to me again?”

“Stiles, why the hell did you do that!”

Stiles wasn’t even listening to the angry rants of the two strong lacrosse players currently in his room. He had both his hands wrapped around his head as he contemplated why Lydia Martin didn’t like him.

“Stiles, are you even listening? You may have just ruined Isaac’s six year friendship with Lydia!” Scott yelled, hoping to get his attention this time.

He didn’t.

Stiles shot up from his bed as he cocked his head to the left. “I’m too mainstream?” Stiles asked to no one in particular. “What does that even mean?”

Scott sighed as he glanced at Isaac before taking a seat next to his best friend and patting his back. “She didn’t mean that.” Isaac was about to object to Scott’s comforting statement, but Scott glared at him.

“What the hell does that mean, Isaac?” Stiles asked instead, completely ignoring Scott’s sympathy and comfort.

Isaac just shrugged, hoping Stiles would drop the subject soon.

But Stiles would always remember what she said. No matter how unpopular and uncool Stiles thought she was, she still didn’t like him. Everyone liked Stiles. He was always the good guy, the person to go to, the friend.

At least, he had thought.

What if there were other people like Lydia who secretly hated him like she did?

What if others thought he was too “mainstream”?

Stiles knew that he couldn’t remember the names of everyone single person he came across, but he really did try.

What if people took his mistakes the wrong way? Stiles vaguely remembered Lydia’s expression when he got her name wrong. She had a look that was almost expectant but disappointed, and Stiles could never forget that. Stiles did that to plenty of people and that made him feel sick.

There were so many people in the school that he could go out and meet, and he’s not.

Lydia Martin may have not mattered to him before, but now, he wanted her to feel like she could go to him for anything, like she could casually say ‘hi’ to him in the hallway, and laugh at his jokes. Maybe even sit with him at lunch.

“Stiles?” Stiles’ eyes darted up to Isaac and Scott, who were staring at him with an overwhelming amount of concern. “Are you okay?” Stiles sighed and reluctantly nodded.

“Look, I’m sorry, Isaac,” He said as he stood up from his bed. “I really thought she did have feelings for you. I guess she’s just not like the rest of them.” He explained when he looked away from him. “She’s almost impossible to read.” Isaac genuinely smiled at him.

“It’s fine, Stiles. I just don’t know how…how I’m going to get her to talk to me again.” Scott and Stiles shared a look before plopping back on the bed.

After a few minutes, Stiles rubbed his eyes with his hands. “I’m sure Lydia can forgive you?” Scott suggested. “Lydia seems more understanding than she lets on, right?”

Isaac shook his head. “If there’s one thing you have to know about Lydia Martin, it’s that she is the most stubborn person in all of Beacon Hills,” Isaac explained to them. “She won’t listen to me.”

Stiles groaned. “We got you into this mess, we’re going to get you out.” He assured his teammate. He looked to Scott and shrugged his shoulders. “Scott?”

Scott stared at the ground before looking back at them with enlightenment in his eyes.

“You said she wouldn’t listen to you,” Scott repeated as he pointed to Isaac. “What if she could listen to someone else?” Isaac and Stiles looked at each other with puzzled expressions.

“What do you mean?” Scott grinned as he pointed to himself. “Maybe she’ll listen to _me._ ”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get Allison to do the dirty work for them.  
> She ends up making a new friend in the process.

Allison misses a day of school and she’s already way out of the loop. She can’t say she’s just a little surprised when she notices her two lacrosse co-captain best friends are extremely distracted when she returns.

“Hey guys!” She greeted with a bright smile. She approached Scott’s locker and noticed a new boy standing with her friends.

The three of them seemed to be conversing about a problem that happened the day before.

“I don’t think you should talk to her, Scott. She knows that you thought the same exact thing that Isaac and I did, and it could just make things completely worse.” Stiles told him, closing his locker shut.

Allison raised an eyebrow at his statement.

Who was “she”?

“Guys?”

“But Scott’s an easy person to listen to.” The boy with the unknown identity said to Stiles, and Allison didn’t miss the scowl on his face.

“See, I’m an easy person to listen to.”

Stiles groaned as he ran his hand through his hair. “I just think we should get maybe someone else to do it,” Stiles explained, pulling his hands away from his hair. “Like a third party. Someone she doesn’t expect to immediately side with us. Someone who barely knows what’s going on, but knows enough to make her listen to what they have to say about us.”

“A girl!” The other boy added.

“GUYS.” All three boys whipped their heads to look at the familiar voice interrupting their planning. Stiles’ eyes widened in temporary shock before turning into his signature smirk.

He shared a look with the other two and he knew they were in agreement.

“Hi, Allison.”

/

Allison had no idea how she got herself caught up in this nonsense. She wondered why Scott and Stiles were so invested in trying to repair this friendship. It’s not like the two of them were even that close with Isaac Lahey to begin with.

One day. She missed one day and she already has all these questions.

But no. She’s walking towards the library, where Isaac said Lydia Martin would be at this hour.

Lydia Martin.

Allison always had at least one class with her each year, and she knew that she was extremely intelligent for their age. Allison would be lying if she said she wasn’t jealous of that kind of knowledge.

But Lydia always seemed to remain on the outside. Allison thought with her smarts and her looks, she could be popular. She wondered why she wasn’t.

Walking into the library, Allison immediately spotted the redheaded genius sitting by herself further towards the back of the room. She was indulging herself in what looked like a thousand page textbook, quickly scanning pages and writing notes on a separate notebook.

Allison made her way to her table, and saw the girl glance up at her. She quickly looked down after realizing just exactly who it was approaching her.

“Lydia?” She heard Lydia let out a small annoyed sigh before she finally met eyes with the girl.

“Allison.” Allison awkwardly shifted her weight to her left foot before smiling.

“Hi,” She said. “Could I sit?”

Lydia shrugged as she turned back to her work. It wasn’t the kind of “yes” Allison was looking for, but it would have to do.

“What are you doing here, Allison?” Lydia asked the pretty brunette, not even looking up at her. She just continued to read whatever textbook she was reading.

Allison tried to read some words on the page Lydia was currently reading.

“Greek mythology.” Allison randomly blurted out without thinking. She meant to say it inner head, but her mouth and head weren’t exactly coordinated at the time, and she let it slip.

Lydia slowly looked up to see Allison observing the text she was currently reading. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I’m certainly surprised you knew I was reading about Greek mythology when I’m reading about the part of it most people don’t really know about.” Lydia stated slowly as she intertwined her hands together and looked at Allison expectantly.

The girl just shrugged. “My parents love Greek mythology. They have tons of books on it at home.” Allison said with a slight smile.

She suddenly had an idea come to her. “You wanna come over? I’m sure my parents would love to tell you a few things about it. You can even borrow some of my books.” She suggested.

Lydia looked vaguely interested, but also hesitant. It took her a few minutes for her decide before she stood up from her chair and started packing her things.

Allison had never smiled bigger.

/

“So, I forgot my parents headed out for a business trip this afternoon, but you can still read and borrow a ton of my parents’ books. They basically have a library full of books purely based on just Greek mythology.” Allison told her as she led her to her parents’ library.

Lydia’s jaw dropped at the sight of so many books. She thought she was in heaven as she lightly touched the spine of every book nearest to her.

“Wow. This is…” Lydia blinked a few more times. “Wow.”

Allison giggled lightly. “Yeah,” Allison looked around once more. “It has that kinda effect on people, huh?”

Lydia just dumbly nodded.

“Are these all books on Greek mythology?” Lydia asked with a quiet voice.

Allison shook her head with a smile on her face. “We have yet to get to those.”

Lydia’s eyes almost popped out of her head.  “So, all these books are just other inventory?” Lydia exclaimed incredulously. “How do your parents even acquire this many books?”

Allison shrugged. “They get out of the town a lot,” Allison explained. “Like, a lot. I barely see them.” She sighed.

She hated explaining this to people. It was just so hard for her to say.

“When they come back, they return with at least ten books with them,” She continued. She pointed to the bookcase on the right side of the library. “Those books are from people in the United States,” She pointed to the other side. “Those are from different countries. England, China, Australia…” Allison gestured for Lydia follow her to a back room.

“And these,” Allison began to say as she led Lydia into a room with more books. “These are the books they get for me.” Lydia’s eyes widened even more if it was possible. “Most of them are about Greek mythology because they thought it always interested me. Honestly, at the time, it didn’t. But after I got piled with these books time after time after time…” Allison smiled lovingly at the books. “I fell in love with it.”

There was silence between them before Allison finally perked up and ran to grab one of the books on the shelves. “I want you to read this one,” She said. “The author is legitimately descriptive of what the gods and goddesses did, and the pictures are pretty cool.”

Lydia flashed her a small smile for her as she graciously received the book from her.

The two spent the whole rest of the night talking about Greek mythology and learning more about each other.

/

“You spent your _entire_ night with her, and you didn’t even mention us?” Stiles shouted. “You are unbelievable.”

Allison gave them all a sheepish look before trying to defend herself.

“She’s a cool girl!” Allison stammered out. “It was only natural for me to keep talking with her. How was I supposed to bring up Isaac when I was just getting to know her?”

“Well great, Allison is no longer a ‘third party’,” Stiles said. “We have to find another plan.”

Scott interjected. “No, no,” He said. “The Allison plan is still a go. Allison can keep getting closer to her. That can actually work in our favor.”

Allison and Isaac both looked at him with surprising looks. “How?” They asked at the same time.

The two looked at each other and blushed before turning back to Scott.

“Lydia will trust Allison. She now trusts her more than me or Stiles, and Allison can convince her better now.” Stiles nodded in agreement.

“Scott’s right. We’re better off if Allison continues exactly what she’s doing.” Stiles told Isaac comfortingly, watching as his shoulders began to slump.

“You haven’t lost Lydia, Isaac. This is just a silly misunderstanding, I promise.” Scott assured him.

Half of Isaac knew that he was right. Lydia was his best friend, and in all honesty, this whole situation was silly and unnecessary.

But the other half was scared that maybe Lydia would never talk to him again because of his mistake.

/

Allison found Isaac on Stiles’ porch, his head in his hands. Allison never knew exactly how to comfort someone. She kinda just did it.

“Isaac?” She called out quietly.

The boy snapped his head up to look at the speaker, who was none other than Allison Argent.

“Oh,” He said in relief. “For a second, I thought you were Lydia. But then I remembered I was at Stiles’ house.” Allison looked at him sadly before she sat next to the heartbroken boy.

“You wanna talk? You seem kind of upset.”

Isaac let out a deep sigh before messing up his hair again.

“I just…” Isaac looked at her as if he couldn’t find the words.

“I hope my friendship with Lydia doesn’t end over some stupid overreaction,” He explained. “Like, I don’t understand why she’s so upset.” He groaned. “My best friend may be a girl, but that doesn’t mean I understand them.” Allison sighed as she pursed her lips together.

“You want me to tell you what she said?”

Isaac suddenly perked up at her words and nodded immediately.

Allison looked away from him, facing the direction of the street in front of them. “Lydia said that she didn’t care that you thought she loved you. She was upset at the fact that you avoided her for most of the day when you came up with your assumption.”

Isaac looked at Allison with a confused face. “That’s why she’s mad? Because I avoided her?”

Allison nodded.

“She said that when guys run from love or commitment, it’s not a good sign. Even if she did actually love you, you would have done the same exact thing, and she didn’t like it.” Allison explained further. “She seemed more disappointed than ever.”

Isaac put his head in his hands again, clutching small pieces of hair.

“I get it, I get it,” Isaac said. “I guess I never noticed it, but I do tend to run away from love.”  Allison turned to face him once again, seeing his broken face as he lifted it from his hands. “I was never lucky with girls. I’ve fallen for so many girls, and felt my heart break plenty of times, I guess when I thought Lydia loved me, I thought she was going to hurt me too,” Isaac thought aloud. “Love scares the shit out of me, Allison.”

Allison just stared at the boy for awhile, because he just spoke the thoughts she had kept inside of her for the longest time. She looked away again, just in case a few tears came out of her eyes.

“I understand.” She said slowly. She was quiet before she spoke again. “I completely understand. Once you love and get hurt, it’s hard to love again. It really is.”

Flashbacks of her and Scott appeared in her head.

“There’s this person you think you may be with forever, and everything seems perfect. But that perfect everything just…falls apart, right in front of you. And…” Allison’s frown deepened. “That person you think is forever really isn’t.”

Isaac spoke again, softly this time. “Scott?” He asked, as if he knew he was going to get hit.

But he didn’t.

The two teenagers locked eyes. In that moment, Isaac and Allison connected through the crippled look of a heartbroken teenager, and in that moment, they felt each other’s hurt. Isaac watched as Allison’s tears came down her face and she replied,

 “Yeah. Scott.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!   
> I have chapters up to Chapter Six FINISHED for this story, but I want to know what you guys think of this before I post the rest of the story.  
> I'm currently working on Chapter Seven.   
> So, please review and tell me what you think!! :)   
> LOVE Y'ALL


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison and Lydia talk about Lydia's history with boys. Stiles and Lydia talk apologize to each other. Scott's planning on asking Kira to the Spring Fling, and Isaac wants to ask Allison??   
> Lydia tells Scott about the Puppy Car Wash.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I got some pretty good reviews on this story so here's the next chapter.   
> It's really late where I am, and I have school tomorrow, so I won't be posting the next chapters until sometime this week. Tomorrow hopefully. 
> 
> On another note, I made a twitter and an instagram! Both accounts with the same username as this account and my tumblr (which btw you guys should follow too ;) ) but the only little changes are i think for instagram and twitter, instead of dashes (-) you have to use underscores ( ___ ) 
> 
> Awesome! So go follow those accounts. Instagram I'll just be posting lots of edits and getting to know my followers better...same thing with Twitter. I also might tweet out some updates on my stories on twitter too, so be sure to follow that account. 
> 
> You guys are literally the best. 
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> Don't forget to review!! <3

It's been a week.

It's been a week since everything had happened between Isaac and Lydia, and the situation still wasn't fixed completely.

But on another note, Stiles hated how he was just noticing all these great people now, in their junior year. There were so many wonderful guys and girls in his grade, and he had absolutely no idea. Was he really that oblivious?

He truly felt like a terrible person for letting all the popularity go to his head. He wondered how people viewed him before? Just because he was popular, did they think he was an inconsiderate asshole? Most probably.

Now, after befriending more than half the grade, he decided it was time to make amends with Lydia Martin.

/

Allison and Lydia were sitting at a table together, silently studying.  Allison had a history test next period, and Lydia was just getting ahead, as usual. It had been almost thirty minutes since either of them had said a word and the silence was driving Allison crazy. She knew Lydia was serious about studying, but couldn't see talk for even a minute.

Lydia noticed Allison's bored and distressed face and tried so hard not to laugh. She tried to focus on her work but she couldn't.

"You look so bored." Lydia finally said. Allison rolled her eyes as she let out a laugh and closed her book.

"I'm glad you noticed. Let's talk." Allison said while wrapping her hands together in front of her. Lydia giggled.

"What do you want to talk about?" Allison thought for a little bit, tapping her index finger on her chin. Then her eyes brightened and Lydia knew exactly what she wanted to talk about.

"Boys." She watched Lydia roll her eyes and smile slowly as she began to close her book as well. Girls could never pass up an opportunity to talk about guys.

"Do you find any guy in our grade particularly cute?" Lydia asked, wondering who her brunette best friend was fond of. Lydia knew about Allison and Scott because who didn't? She watched as Allison's eyes sparked whenever they saw him in the hallway, and she wasn't so sure if she even knew that she still loved him. She also knew it was a rough topic for her. Lydia knew nothing about what actually went down, but she knew that if she and Allison had an actual, real friendship, she'll tell her when she felt like it.

"Well…"Allison thought for a moment. "I don't know. Jackson Whittemore is kinda cute, but he's a real jackass." Allison watched as Lydia's eyes rolled.

"I know. I used to date him." Lydia stated as if it was no big deal. Allison though, thought this was a really big deal.

"You did?" She asked surprisingly. "When?" Lydia looked up at the ceiling, trying to think back to the time when she thought Jackson was the guy for her. Long story short, he wasn't.

"We dated for the longest time in eighth grade. Then, we got to high school and he got severely popular and dumped me," Lydia explained. "For awhile, I tried really hard to be the girl that he wanted to date in high school. I dumbed myself down to seem like the ditzy girlfriend, and I did almost everything he wanted," She continued. "But it wasn't enough, and he still dumped me. But, it's okay, because I don't think anyone even remembers it." Allison looked at her in shock. She didn't know that Lydia had been so boy crazy before.

"Have you had any other boyfriends?" She wondered aloud. She clamped her hands over her mouth as she realized she had said her though out loud, and she watched Lydia laugh.

"Yes, Ally, I have," She answered. "There was Jackson, and then I had a more…physical relationship with Aiden." As Allison's jaw dropped again, Lydia didn't wait to explain. "No one really knew about it. It was more of thing to keep us both distracted from our problems…his anger problems and my problems at home."

Allison didn't realize how many popular guys Lydia had actually been with. And to think, she thought Lydia was some conservative virgin this entire time.

"Did you and Jackson…ever…you know?" She saw Lydia turn a little red, but only for a little bit.

"Yeah. He was my first," Lydia said with a monotone voice. "I've done it multiple times with Aiden though." Lydia thought about it for a little longer and then held her hand up as she remembered one more. "Oh, and at the beginning of the year, I had this thing with one of the deputies down at the police station." Allison just stared at the strawberry blonde, hoping that right after her statement she would tease, 'just kidding!'…but she didn't.

She was one hundred percent serious. Lydia could tell Allison was surprised at all this new information, and she knew it was shocking. She figured everyone thought she was some kind of prude, but in reality, she was quite the opposite.

"Does Isaac know about any of this?" Allison's question caused Lydia to look away from her friend in embarrassment.

"No," Lydia responded. "He doesn't know about any of this…well, he knew about Jackson. But he never knew about Aiden or Deputy Parrish." Allison raised her eyebrow at the mention of Deputy Parrish. She knew him from the station; he was one of Sheriff Stilinski's favorite and most reliable deputies, according to Stiles. Maybe that was why the relationship ended.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them, and Lydia knew it was because the topic of Isaac came up.

"You know." Lydia said slowly as she processed everything. Allison randomly coming to talk to her that day in the library, her randomly becoming friends with her…it wasn't random at all. "You know about the whole Isaac thing, and that's why you started talking to me! You only started talking to me because you were helping…you were helping them!" Allison forcefully shook her head.

"No," She could see Lydia was no longer paying attention to her. "No, Lydia no, listen to me!"

Allison finally realized she had followed Lydia all the way outside of the library and out into the empty hallways of Beacon Hills High School. Lydia looked furious as she whipped around to see Allison's genuine apologetic face.

"What?" Lydia responded softly. Allison took a deep breath as she took a step closer to Lydia.

"Yes, at first, that was what I was meant to do," Allison admitted. "But on that first day…I was supposed to just talk to you about Isaac and then that was it. That was what was supposed to happen. But, no. I ended up talking with you for the rest of the night and I loved every minute of it." Allison explained, trying to get her to look her in the eye. "You know why, Lydia? Because that day, you made me feel like someone wanted to genuinely wanted to listen to what I had to say. You made me feel like someone wanted to be my friend." Allison paused to let Lydia absorb all this information she was being thrown. After awhile, Allison finally continued. "It's hard to find people who legitimately want to be your friend. When people consider you "popular", you soon find everyone wanting to be your friend for their own reasons. No one's authentic anymore."

Lydia looked up at Allison with her big, green eyes.

"Have you told the boys anything I've told you so far?" Allison shook her head as she watched Lydia give her a toothless smile. "And I won't if you don't want me to." Lydia nodded as they began to walk down the hallway together.

"Has Isaac really been this worked up about me not talking to him?" Lydia asked her friend. Allison nodded immediately as she turned to her.

"You should hear all the deliberate plans Stiles, Scott and Isaac have come up with to get you to talk to him again. It's crazy." Lydia sighed.

"I don't know," She said. "I don't know why I'm so mad. Now that I think about it, I'm really not. I think I just got a little self conscious that my friendship with Isaac looked a little too more friendly to the public eye than it actually was." Allison nodded in understanding.

"You should talk to him," Allison suggested. "And I'm saying that as someone who's had a real talk with him. Not a silly one like Scott and Stiles." Allison saw Lydia's eyes roll at the mention of Stiles and she laughed. "You know, Stiles isn't as bad as you put him out to be."

"He seems like the type of person who thinks being he's so much better than everyone else just because people know his name." Lydia told her honestly. She knew Allison was friends with him, but she didn't care. Allison simply giggled at her honesty.

"It seems that way, but Stiles actually does have a heart," She tried to tell her. "You know, Scott told me how upset he got at what you said." Lydia's eyebrows shot up at the sound of these words.

"Really?" She questioned. "He got worked up over something I said?" Allison nodded.

"That's something people don't really know about him," Allison explained. "Stiles is actually really insecure. I don't know why, but he tries to be the nice guy. He always wants to be that nice guy. And when you called him "mainstream", he thought he wasn't being a nice enough person and started making friends with half our grade."  Lydia looked down at her shoes.

Allison glanced at her watch and jumped at how late it got.

"Oh shit, I have to get home! My parents are expecting me for dinner tonight because my aunt's coming back into town today. I'll see you tomorrow, Lydia."

Lydia simply nodded and waved as she began to walk in the opposite direction.

And there he was.

There was Stiles Stilinski sitting on the steps of the stairs.

Waiting for _her._

_/_

Stiles had seen Lydia and Allison leave the library rather quickly and they seemed busy, so Stiles didn't bother with them.

He waited at the steps by the library, his foot, tapping impatiently as he saw a flash of strawberry blonde striding down the hall and he immediately tensed, going over what he was going to say over and over in his head again. He was not going to mess this up.

Lydia walked closer and Stiles got a really good look at her. He had never really looked at her before, but as she was the only one walking down the hallway in his direction, he truly noticed one thing.

Lydia Martin was _goddamn beautiful_.

The way her hair fell on her shoulders and how effortlessly it seemed to her made Stiles' stomach do flips. It was like she didn't try at all.

"Stiles?" She questioned in confusion as he walked closer to her. She looked even better up close. Her green eyes entranced Stiles to the point where he didn't even know what words were. Her makeup emphasized everything about her face and it distracted Stiles to the point where everything he had went over in his head was out the window.

"Lydia…" He stuttered out. "Uh…" Stiles racked his brain to remember everything he had practiced, but he couldn't when she was looking at him like that.

Lydia figured Stiles wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, so she spoke up first.

"Look, Stiles, I am really sorry for everything I said to you last week," Lydia apologized. "I really had no right to say any of that to you." Stiles' jaw dropped at her words.

"You're…you're apologizing to me?" He asked in disbelief. Shouldn't he be the one apologizing to her?

Lydia smiled lightly at Stiles' confusion. She gestured to the steps close by them, and they both sat down, facing each other.

"Yeah," She said. "I was being a bitch when I said what I said. I didn't even mean it. You're not mainstream, Stiles. You're you." Stiles smiled enthusiastically at her words and started to laugh.

"And I'm sorry for thinking you and Isaac were anything more than friends," Stiles explained. "I just saw the way you were acting and, from my experience, I've never seen a girl act that way towards a guy she had strict platonic feelings for." Lydia nodded in understanding.

"Don't get me wrong, I do love Isaac," She added. "He's been my rock for the longest time. He's like my brother." Lydia looked away for awhile. "Besides, I'm not ready to love again, not like that at least." Stiles raised his eyebrow. Again?

"What do you mean?" Lydia smiled knowingly and shrugged.

"I just explained this to Ally," She muttered under her breath to herself with a smile. "At the beginning of high school, there was this guy that I truly thought was the one for me," She started. "But turns out he was actually a huge asshole." Stiles watched her carefully as she described her love life to him. "He broke up with me." Was all Lydia managed to get out for the second time today. Stiles and Lydia sat for awhile, just sitting in silence and in each others' presence.

"I wish I could tell you I understand," He began. "But I can't because I don't. I've never had a real relationship before." Lydia widened her eyes at the confession. Why was he telling her this?

"It's not really a big deal," Lydia stated, brushing a strand of her hair away from her face.

"How many relationships have you had?" Stiles wondered.

"One serious one," Lydia responded. "It was Jackson Whittemore. He was the one I was talking about earlier."

Hearing that made Stiles' stomach clench. Why did she date a jerk like him?

"The other two weren't really relationships. They were mostly…making out and other things." She said with a light blush.

Stiles felt a bubble of jealously form inside of him. Who were these guys that Lydia hooked up with?

Stiles really didn't know why he felt this way. It wasn't like he owned Lydia and it's not like she was his girlfriend. But there was just something about her.

"But you've really never had a serious relationship?" Lydia asked. Stiles nodded in affirmation. "Huh. I swear, I thought you would have had at least three girlfriends." Stiles laughed lowly with her.

"Nope." He said again. "Been without a girlfriend for my whole life. I've had to watch my friends date numerous girls, but me? Nah." Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" She asked in pure curiosity. Stiles shrugged.

"I don't know," He started. "I guess…I was just hoping that my first girlfriend would be the one I have forever." Lydia was in shock at how genuine and hopeful he sounded.

She knew that his wish was completely unrealistic, but… Genuine and hopeful, nonetheless.

"That's sweet," She said to him. "I just wouldn't get your hopes up." Stiles sighed deeply and nodded. "I know. It's something Scott tells me everyday." Lydia snapped his head to him.

"He has a lot of experience." Stiles nodded knowingly.

"He does."

There was a pause of the longest silence, the two of them just looking at each other.

Stiles couldn't tear his eyes away from hers.

Lydia couldn't bring herself to do the same.

Finally, Stiles started talking again.

"Well, this was nice." He said while getting up from the steps. He helped Lydia up to her feet and he smiled. "We should do it again sometime."

"We should."

Little did they know, "again" would be appearing much sooner than either expected.

/

Scott and Isaac sat on the sideline benches of the lacrosse field, searching for a certain brown-haired offense player that was missing.

"MCCALL! LAHEY!" A booming voice exclaimed, not too far from them. "Where the hell is Stilinski?" Scott and Isaac shared a look before answering Coach.

"He's in the bathroom." Scott said.

"He had to talk to a teacher." Isaac also said at the same time as Scott. The two of them shared a silent glare with each other before speaking again.

"He had to talk to a teacher." Scott corrected himself.

"He's in the bathroom." Isaac said again, making Scott hit his arm.

Coach glared at the two of them silently before beginning to yell again. "Wherever he is, you two better hope he's coming soon!"

Scott and Isaac looked at each other before groaning and getting their sticks ready.

"So…Isaac…what's your plan for Spring Fling?" Scott felt Isaac tense up and stop fixing his stick.

"Well…um…" He stuttered. "I don't really know." Scott smiled softly and looked back at his stick.

"You should join Stiles and I," Scott said. "We're meeting at my house before the dance." Isaac looked down and thought about it. If he went, he would be leaving Lydia and all of his other friends, wouldn't he?

"What about Lydia?" Isaac asked skeptically. He knew that there were going to be so many popular people there, there wouldn't be any room for Lydia and their group. But Scott gave him a knowing smile.

"I already asked her, and said she could bring whoever she liked." Isaac sighed in relief.

"Good." Scott let out a laugh.

"You planning on asking anyone?" Isaac thought about it and the same girl kept popping into his head over and over.

Allison Argent.

But Isaac couldn't tell Scott he developed an attraction towards his ex-girlfriend that was possibly still in love with him, and he most certainly couldn't tell him he wanted to ask her to the dance.

"I don't have anyone in mind," Isaac answered instead. "Are you asking anyone?"

"I'm thinking about asking Kira," He said slowly. "You know her, right?" Isaac just nodded in response.

"Yeah, I know her. She's really good friends with Malia." Scott smiled.

"Yeah," He responded. "I'm going to ask her. Just please," Scott looked up at Isaac with pleading eyes. "Don't mention anything to Allison yet. I still have to figure out what I'm going to say to her." Isaac was silent for a second, staring at his friend's eyes.

His eyes filled with concern and hope.

"Yeah," Isaac replied. "I won't tell her anything."

/

Scott spotted Lydia stapling a flyer on the front billboard of the school. He ran over to her, watching her turn around and smile.

"Hey Scott." He smiled as she turned back around to continue what she was doing.

"Hey Lydia," He tried to read the flyer she was putting up, but she was blocking his view. "What are you doing?" Lydia finished stapling her last flyer and stood side by side with Scott, who was now reading the paper she had just put up.

"The vet I work at is having a fundraiser this weekend for the puppies who will get sent back to shelter if we don't raise the money to support them," Lydia explained sadly. "We're going to be washing cars." Scott nodded in understanding.

"Well, it's really cool that you're helping, Lydia." She threw him a half smile before they both heard the bell ring.

"Well, I have to get to class," Lydia said quickly. "You should come to the car wash though!" She added as she raced down the hall.

Scott watched her disappear down the corridor as he spotted Stiles walking to his next class.

"Stiles!" He watched his best friend whip around to look at him with his usual goofy smile.

"Hey!" Stiles waited for Scott to catch up with him, and they both stopped in the middle of the hallway. Stiles saw Scott smirk.

"Whatcha doing this weekend?"


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the day of the charity event and Stiles and Lydia talk under some...interesting circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS sorry it took me awhile to post this chapter, but it's actually harder to copy and paste these chapters than I thought. Whatever. Here's chapter 5!!

"Please, Ally!" Lydia pleaded as she followed the brunette down the hall Friday afternoon. Allison sighed as she turned around, making Lydia stop right behind her and almost run into her friend.

"Lydia."

"Please, Ally!" She begged again. "We need more people to help out with the wash! Right now, it's literally just me and Deaton!"

Dr. Deaton was known around Beacon Hills as the vet, and he was also known for being a pretty nice guy. Allison looked at her like she was really considering it, and honestly, she was. Allison never had to do favors for friends because she didn't have any real ones that would ask her for them.

Lydia was a friend.

A real friend.

"Okay," She finally agreed. "I'll do it." Lydia jumped for joy at her words of agreement and she brought Allison into her arms for a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" Lydia gratefully exclaimed. "Deaton, the puppies, and I appreciate your help, Ally." Allison laughed as she threw her arm over Lydia's shoulders and smiled.

"Yeah, you better."

/

The next day, Lydia and Allison got there earlier to help set up everything for the car wash. They arrived as Deaton was unlocking the clinic, and he both smiled at their presence.

"Lydia! Thank you for being here today. The animals will appreciate it," He said to her before turning to Allison. "And you. Thank you for being here as well. What's your name?"

Allison stuck out a hand for him to shake and as he returned the favor, she replied,

"Allison." Deaton grinned greatly and let go of her hand. "Well, Allison, it's nice to meet you," He said. "Lydia speaks very highly of you." Allison blushed as they walked inside the building, Lydia pointing where she could put her stuff.

"The cars are going to be washed in the front parking lot, and so we have to get a ton of buckets and sponges out there. You think you can handle that?" Deaton asked them both. Lydia and Allison shared a look before grinning.

"Of course."

An hour later, Allison and Lydia have filled six huge buckets of water, each with a sponge in it.

"Deaton said there were going to be others coming to help out. Do you think you can start putting out the buckets and stuff?" Lydia asked Allison. Her friend nodded as she grabbed a bucket. Deaton grabbed two, as Lydia tended to get the puppies they were going to put outside for everyone to see.

"Hey buddy! Wanna come outside? It's warm outside!" Lydia coaxed the first puppy. Allison came in to grab another bucket.

"Hey, Ally, do you mind taking this little guy outside and tying him to the front of the building?" Allison laughed as she took the leash from Lydia and headed

back outside. Deaton passed her and came in to grab the last bucket, but Lydia stopped him.

"I got that, Deaton!" Lydia said as she got a few more dogs out. "Could you just take these guys out there?" Deaton quickly took the leashes from the girl and smiled.

Lydia had one more puppy to get out of the cages. As Lydia was approaching the cage, she noticed that it was the one puppy that wasn't very fond of her.

Rex.

"Hey, Rex…" She said slowly as she got a leash and put it behind her. "Don't you want to go outside with the rest of the puppies? You get to wash me get wet and wash some cars for you!" She exclaimed in a happy, sarcastic tone. Rex barked at her and she jumped back, hitting the bucket and splashing some water on the floor.

"Shit!" She recovered and turned back to the dog that was giving her more problems than one.

"Rex, can you just give me a break?" Lydia pleaded as she saw the puppy calming down a little bit. "Thank you. I'm going to open the cage now okay?"

Lydia proceeded to open his cage and as soon as the puppy spotted the leash, he jumped on Lydia causing her to stumble back.

Lydia fell back, slipping on the puddle of water she had just created, and her head hit the bucket, the water spilling all over the floor.

To make matters worse, her head seemed to get stuck in said bucket, and she had no sense of direction whatsoever.

The puppy ran out of the room, leaving Lydia to deal with this problem on her own.

Meanwhile, Scott, Isaac, and Stiles were just arriving at the vet. The first person they saw was Allison in running shorts and a tank top. She was getting the buckets ready and petting the puppies in front of the door. When she turned around, she spotted the three boys and smiled.

"Hey, you guys are here!" Allison greeted. "Thank you. We're going to need all the help we can get." Scott raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you here? I didn't think you knew about this." He said. Allison laughed and nodded as she gestured to the building.

"Yeah. I was kind of dragged here by—"

"Allison! Can you get the last bucket inside?" Deaton called for her. Allison gave him a thumbs up and a smile before turning to the guys.

"Could one of you take care of that?" She asked as she turned to the puppies. "I have to finish tying these guys up." Stiles nodded quickly before racing in the building.

/

He looked around for the last bucket, but he couldn't find it.

Stiles heard barking, and saw that there was puppy out of his cage running around the room. He scooped him up and pet his ears carefully.

"Now, what are you doing out of your cage?" The dog, Rex, barked and licked Stiles' face. He laughed before looking around for the bucket again. He turned to the dog.

"You wouldn't happen to know where that last bucket is, do you?" Stiles silently laughed at himself because look at him, he's talking to a dog!

But what he didn't expect was for Rex to hop out of his arms and run into the cage room.

Stiles followed him, laughing slightly as he found the bucket.

On someone else's head.

"Um," He started. "Are you okay?" The girl, Lydia, let out a huff before crossing her arms.

"Do I look like I'm okay?" She asked him, obviously upset.

Her voice echoed when she spoke, and so Stiles couldn't tell if it was anyone that he knew.

"Here, let me try and help…" Stiles said while trying to stifle a laugh. He grabbed the edges of the bucket and tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. "Well, it's really stuck on there."

Lydia recognized the voice anywhere. It was Stiles Stilinski.

"Yeah. It is." Lydia replied. She heard a dog bark and internally groaned. "Is that Rex?"

She heard Stiles laugh as the dog stopped barking. Rex jumped into Stiles' arms again.

"Yeah, it's Rex." Stiles said. "He's adorable." Lydia laughed coldly.

"He's something," She agreed. "Rex hates me."

Stiles raised an eyebrow before looking at the puppy and smiling.

"I doubt it." He said. "You don't hate her, now do you?" He cooed to the puppy, receiving a bark from him. Rex trotted over to Lydia and started licking her hands lovingly.

"Wow," She said in surprise as she started to pet him. "You really have your ways with dogs." Stiles shrugged.

"I guess."

There was a moment of silence as Stiles watched Rex lick this unknown girl's hands.

He didn't know what to say, or what he wanted to say, but for some reason this girl made him nervous and he had no idea why.

"Do I know you? Maybe from school?"

Lydia felt her heart pound as she thought of what to say. Should she just tell him?

"You're Stiles, right?" She asked. Stiles nodded, but soon realized that the girl wouldn't be able to see him.

"Yeah, Stiles Stilinski."

"I go to Beacon Hills High School," she said. "But I've never really heard about you. I know you're great at lacrosse." She lied skillfully. Stiles laughed wholeheartedly.

"Yeah, lacrosse is one of strong suits," He said. His smile disappeared quickly as he thought of the last week though. "But I don't know, everything has been going wrong for me lately." Lydia raised an eyebrow in her bucket.

"What do you mean?"

Stiles shrugged as he looked at his hands.

"I don't know," He started. "I mean, first off, the lacrosse team keeps giving me crap because I don't plan on asking a girl to Spring Fling. Apparently, being really popular means you have to have four different girls on your arm all night," Stiles paused and shook his head at his teammates. "And speaking of being popular, I…I don't think that everyone likes me, you know? I think that maybe if I be nicer and more genuine, people would stop seeing me as that lacrosse dude."

Lydia listened to Stiles' breathing start to regulate again before she reached for where she thought his hand was.

She was right.

Stiles stared at her hand, before grabbing it and rubbing circles into it.

"It sounds to me like those are just temporary problems though," Lydia stated as she enjoyed the warmth of Stiles' hands on her own. "A week after the dance, people aren't going to care who you brought to Spring Fling. Five years from now, people aren't going to care what you were like in high school. Five years from now, it's not going to matter who liked you and who didn't."

Stiles let these words sink in as his stare came upon the bucket.

He really wanted to know who this girl was.

"Temporary problems are an easy fix," Lydia continued. "The permanent problems are a little harder." Stiles' grip on her hand tightened as he gazed at her, observing her movements.

"What do you know about them?"

"What do I know about permanent problems?" She asked. Stiles didn't reply, so she assumed he nodded. Lydia laughed coldly. "All my problems seem to be permanent."

Stiles waited for her to continue, not knowing Lydia was about to cry underneath that bucket.

"My parents are divorced; my dad left us a few years back. It's been two years, and I guess I've gotten used to it, but at the same time, I don't think I have." She stammered out.

Lydia had never really talked about this with anyone, and now she was finding herself spilling her heart out to Stiles Stilinski.

The truth?

Yeah, Lydia still wasn't over her father's departure.

"I tried so hard to fix it, you know? I tried to get him to stay," By now, Stiles knew that this girl was crying. All he really wanted to do was take off the bucket and just wipe the tears away. He didn't care if he had no idea who it was. "I tried to fix the problem because when you're growing up you want to have that perfect family, you want to have a mom and a dad and you want to have siblings. But some things just aren't fixable." Lydia said. "You can't fix a marriage if one half doesn't love the other anymore."

Stiles was silent for awhile before nodding to himself. She opened up to him, so why not open up to her?

"I know what you mean," He whispered quietly, he almost couldn't hear himself. "My mom died when I was eight. It's hard to love and let people in when you know they're just going to leave you again."

Lydia had no idea that Stiles had lost his mother at such an early age. She wondered if anyone at school knew. Scott, probably, but did everyone else know?

"Love's a weird thing, isn't it?" Lydia said. "At first it feels nice. Then it just rips your heart apart when it's not there."

Stiles realized how they were still holding hands, and he blushed a little.

This girl understood the deepest parts of life, and she embraced her knowledge, spreading it to people all around her.

Was he really falling for a girl he didn't know?

He was.

This was the type of girl he wanted to be with forever, the type of girl that could be "the one".

And Lydia didn't know what she was doing.

Why was she sitting here, talking to one of the most popular guys at school? Why was she telling him her deepest secrets?

"You're falling for him, Lydia." A familiar voice rang at the back of her head.

This situation felt all too familiar.

She had to get out.

She had to leave.

"I'm sorry," She said slowly, processing what she was doing. She got up from the floor and tried to find direction in the room. "I'm so sorry."

Stiles got up too, looking at her with worry. Did he say something? He didn't say much, actually.

"Wait!" He cried out.

Lydia found her sense of direction and ran out the door with the bucket still stuck on her head.

Stiles was about to follow her, but he noticed the beautiful bracelet that was now laying on the ground. He bent down to pick it up, but when he looked back up, he heard the door bell ring, signaling that the girl had ran out of the building. He spotted the bucket that was previously on the girl's head thrown on the ground.

Stiles groaned as he looked down at the bracelet in his hands. The metal part of the accessory had a words engraved into it.

_**L ~** _

_**"Love Like You've Never Been Hurt."** _

_**I'm sorry.** _

_**Love, Dad.** _

 

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We visit Lydia's past. Stiles has fallen hopelessly in love with a girl he doesn't even know. Isaac and Lydia make up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER SIX!!!!

_Lydia found herself staring at the table which her boyfriend, Jackson, was sitting at._

_She didn't like to sit with the lacrosse boys because they always seemed to make her uncomfortable, so she just sat with her friends as she usually did, admiring her boyfriend from afar._

_She felt like she was in grade school again, when she first met Jackson._

_"You're falling for him, Lydia." Erica said to her with a smirk. "You're falling for him hard." Lydia's head whipped to her right to find Erica observing her with knowing eyes._

_"Is it that obvious?" Lydia sighed to herself, placing her chin back on the palm of her hand._

_Lydia and Jackson had been dating for over a year now. They had just begun freshmen year, and she noticed the lacrosse team was already making friends with the popular freshman known as her boyfriend._

_"Very," Erica said, picking at her chips in front of her. "Just don't get hurt, okay? I'd hate to see you get hurt because you fell in love too early."_

_Lydia was surprised at her friends words, mostly because Erica was almost always sarcastic and seemingly uncaring towards her since they met, but this was the first time that Lydia felt some sort of concern radiating off of her._

_Lydia smiled and nodded, returning back to her lunch._

_"He won't hurt me."_

_That afternoon though, she got a text from Jackson that said he was on her front porch. Opening her front door, there he was._

_"Jackson?" He looked at her with a hard, cold stare._

_"We need to talk." Lydia quickly let him in, knowing her parents wouldn't be home for awhile._

_"Is something wrong, Jackson?" He sighed, running his hands through his hair, every once and awhile throwing a glance at her. Finally, he spoke._

_"I can't do this anymore, Lydia."_

_And at those six words, Lydia's heart broke into a million pieces._

_"What…I…Jackson, is it me?" She stuttered out, watching him pace around. "Is..is it because I'm not popular enough?" Her eyes were darting everywhere around her, finally landing on the boy she so hopelessly fell in love with. "I've been trying, Jackson, I really have! I've done everything for you! I tried to be that girlfriend you wanted!" Lydia spluttered out, tears threatening to fall from her eyes._

_"I know you have," He said. "It's just, you're still not good enough."_

_And with that, he strode to exit her home, throwing one more somewhat apologetic look at her._

_"Sorry, Lydia."_

_But as he left and closed the door, it was almost like he was slamming the door on her heart. She didn't even hear his last words as she crumbled to the ground in a_ _fit of sobs, placing her face in her hands and just crying._

_She stayed like that for hours on end until her mother and father came home, arguing once again. They hadn't even noticed their daughter on the floor crying her eyes out until she screamed at them to stop._

_She ran upstairs and locked herself up there for the rest of the night._

_And if things didn't already seem terrible, they were about to get worse._

_That same night, Lydia heard a knock on her door._

_It was her father._

_He was wearing his coat and behind him were a set of luggages and bags. Before Lydia could even process what was happening, he kissed her forehead and looked at her tearful eyes._

_"I'm so sorry, Lyds." Her father said sadly. He shook his head in disappointment of himself before looking back at her. "I'm so sorry this is how everything is turning out."_

_"Dad, what are you doing?" He pursed his lips together, looking back at the set of bags behind him._

_"I'm going to be gone for awhile," He simply stated, not sure how to break it to his fourteen year old daughter that he wasn't going to be with her for much longer. "I'm not sure when I'll be back." Lydia's tears wouldn't control themselves._

_It was like Jackson had ripped her heart out of her chest and her father ran over it with ten pickup trucks._

_"Dad, no…" Her father shook his head, placing a specially woven bracelet in her hands before kissing her again and standing up to walk out the room._

_Lydia wanted nothing more for her body to get up and chase after him, but she hurt so much she couldn't feel any part of her body._

_"Dad, no!" She screamed. "PLEASE!"_

_She didn't even feel her mother running into her room, engulfing her in a hug and whispering to her in comfort._

_All she could do was stare down at the bracelet that was handed to her._

/

Lydia felt herself biting back tears as she gripped her steering wheel tighter, puling into a random parking lot.

She knew Allison was following her from the vet, and she saw her pull up next to her in said random parking lot, Allison knocking on the side of her car door and stepping into her car.

"Lydia, what happened back there?" Lydia turned to Allison with tears that she tried so hard to stop in her eyes. "Oh, Lydia…"

"I'm falling in love with him, Allison," She stammered out. "Make…it stop!" She tried to say between sobs but it came out misunderstood.

Allison touched her arm in confusion.

"Who are you falling in love with, Lydia?" Lydia looked at her with wide eyes.

Allison had never seen her so vulnerable.

"Stiles, Allison!" She exclaimed, before breaking down into tears again. "I'm falling in love with Stiles…" The last time she spoke was much quieter, her eyes closing from crying so much.

"Lydia, what do you mean?" Lydia shook her head.

"It's happening again, Ally…" She muttered. "I'm going to get hurt again." Allison didn't need an explanation to know that she was talking about Jackson.

"Stiles isn't Jackson." Allison said slowly.

Lydia shook her head in some sort of agreement.

"Yeah," She agreed. "But he makes me feel the way Jackson did." Lydia looked up at Allison, her eyes wider. "And Ally, it scares me to death."

Allison sighed as she simply just brought Lydia into one of her hugs and rubbed her back comfortingly.

She knew how she felt.

/

Stiles approached Scott's locker with his hands in his hair Monday morning.

Being Stiles' brother and best friend, Scott knew when he was worried, concerned, or freaking out about something.

"Stiles, buddy, you alright?"

He noticed Stiles was pacing even faster now that Scott had to make him stop by holding his shoulders and forcing him to look at him.

"Stiles?"

Stiles looked up at his best friend with worried eyes.

"I'm so not alright," Stiles spat out. "I can't stop thinking about her, Scott."

Scott raised an eyebrow. Who was this girl that has gotten his best friend completely over his head?

"Who?"

Stiles paused for a second because he didn't know how to tell his best friend that he was so in love with a girl he didn't even know the name to.

"Bucket Girl!" He exclaimed exasperated.

Scott obviously gave him a weird look, and this caused Stiles to groan and ran a hand through his hair again.

"Stiles, who's Bucket Girl?" Stiles sighed and looked up at his friend with tired eyes.

"That's the thing, Scotty, I have no idea!" He said. "I have no idea who this girl was because there was a freaking bucket over her head when we were talking for the longest time at the car wash on Saturday and then she just left!"

Scott gave him a surprised look.

"With a bucket on her head?" Scott tried his best not to laugh. But, he couldn't help himself. "Because, Stiles, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a girl with her head stuck in a bucket running out of the vet."

Stiles rolled his eyes at Scott's obvious bluntness and joking manner. This was not the time to be joking.

"Oh, come on, buddy! Laugh a little." Scott insisted, as he watched a silly grin form on Stiles' face.

"It would have been funny to see a girl with a bucket over her head running out wouldn't it been?"

Stiles and Scott took a couple minutes just standing there, laughing with each other over the stupidest thing. For a minute, Stiles forgot all about finding his mystery dream girl.

Then it all came rushing back.

Stiles pressed his back up against the locker and slid down to sit on the floor, Scott following suit.

"What was she like?" Scott asked.

Stiles didn't even know where to begin.

"I…I don't know, Scott," He said truthfully. "Whenever I think of her, I just freeze. Everything in me just stops. My mind goes blank. I didn't even need to see her face to know she was beautiful." Stiles explained with a smile. "Her personality did all the talking for me. It was like…she figured everything out, you know? She knew life. She got it. She was so smart, Scott, it was unbelievable. Just thinking about her leaves me speechless." He continued.

Scott watched as Stiles' eyes brightened up as he talked about this mystery girl and how intrigued he was at the idea of her.

"She's obviously been hurt in the past. She told me about the deep stuff about her. Like when her parents separated. And how she felt about it. She dropped this bracelet when she started to leave." Stiles said, showing Scott the engraving on it.

Scott traced his thumb over the words i the engraving of this random girl's bracelet.

"Love Like You've Never Been Hurt…" He muttered under his breath, loud enough for anyone to hear. "This seems personal, Stiles. Don't you think she's missing this?" Scott wondered, reading the engraving over and over. He handed him back the bracelet as he watched his friend look at it again.

"I have to find her, Scott," He said, clutching the bracelet. "I just have to." Scott patted Stiles on the pack and gave him an encouraging smile.

"We will," Scott assured. "I swear to God we will."

The two just sat there in each others' presence and waited for the bell to ring that signaled them to separate.

Little did they know, Isaac Lahey was just around the corner, listening into the entire conversation.

And little did they know, he knew exactly who Stiles was looking for.

/

"Lydia." She heard a familiar voice that she hasn't heard in awhile call out to her at the end of the day. She whipped around from her locker to see her tall, lacrosse player best friend walking in her direction.

"Isaac?" He finally reached her and engulfed her in a hug.

"Whoa!" Lydia exclaimed, obviously surprised by the gesture. But nonetheless, she hugged him back.

"I missed you." Lydia smiled into his shoulder as she nodded in agreement.

"I missed you, too." The two pulled apart and grinned at each other, looking at each other for the first time.

"I'm sorry I assumed." He apologized.

"I'm sorry I overreacted." Lydia responded. They threw each other more smiles and grins before Isaac noticed something different and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you actually wearing converse?" He asked, his eyes widening too much. Lydia looked down and bit her lip, smiling up at him.

"I am." Isaac smirked a little, his face plastered with a knowing look.

"May I ask why?" Lydia looked at him skeptically because Isaac was not one to question her fashion choices. She placed a strand of hair behind her ear and shrugged.

"I was just kind of feeling it today." Isaac knew that it was a lie, but he didn't completely know what was behind that lie.

"I didn't even know you owned converse."

Truth was, when Lydia and Stiles talked that day at the vet, she had noticed his converse and how comfortable they looked. So, the next day, she went to the store and bought a pair.

Lydia sighed, knowing that Isaac must know something if he was continuing to interrogate her.

"Okay Lahey, what do you know." She asked in a not-so-questioningly tone. Isaac chuckled before pointing to her bare wrist.

"You're bracelet." He stated simply, crossing his arms.

Lydia knew she wasn't wearing her bracelet today. She always wore it, she barely took it off, but at the moment, she had no idea where it was.

"I just misplaced it today, that's all." She told him defensively. Isaac shook her head.

"I know where it is." Lydia's eyes widened as she took a huge step closer to Isaac.

"Where. Is. It." She growled, her face turning into a giant scowl that was hard to contain.

Isaac was one of the few people who knew Lydia's grown attachment to the bracelet. She treated it almost as if it was the only thing left of her father…because it kind of was.

Isaac leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Stiles Stilinski."

Lydia moved away abruptly from him as she heard his name, glaring at his smirking face.

She was confused as to why Stiles might have had her bracelet, but then it all made sense.

Saturday.

The car wash.

The two of them talking to each other in close proximity.

Him holding her hand.

Her running out of there like there was a fire.

She had dropped her bracelet then.

And _Stiles Stilinski_ was the one to find it.

Of course.

She looked up at him with worried eyes.

"Isaac, what am I supposed to do?"

"It's obvious you like him, you know," He said matter-of-factly. He failed to mention the fact that Stiles was oh so deeply in love with her, but he thought the two would figure it out soon enough. "And I know how much you care for that bracelet. Just come clean with him. Tell him it was you."

Isaac was trying so hard to get Lydia to tell Stiles that she is his mystery girl. He wanted everything to work out with his friends.

"But…" Lydia stuttered out, her hands becoming unsteady. "But, it would just be awkward, Isaac. We told each other such personal things that day…I don't think I could face him."

Isaac mentally groaned.

Okay, so his best friend was going to be a little harder to convince.

"It's _Stiles_ , Lydia," He stated. "This is Stiles we're talking about. He is one of the most caring, genuine, and thoughtful people we know, and I'm sure you've figure that out already." He told her, watching her face smile a little at the mention of his name. "You've practically fallen in love with him."

That's when Lydia's eyes widened again and she looked at him in fear. Isaac didn't know what he said to make her look this terrified.

"Lydia…?" Lydia just held up a hand for him to wait as she shut her eyes and tried to breathe. She focused on her breaths going in and out like Allison taught her to do that day in the car.

_"In and out, Lydia. Just breathe." Allison had coached her as she rubbed her back slowly. "In and out. Look, breathe with me. In…and out….and in…and out…"_

When Lydia knew she was okay, she opened her eyes and looked at Isaac, who looked a little freaked out by the whole thing.

But the hurt and pain and her eyes told him exactly what he need to know.

"I'm sorry," He immediately apologized. "I wasn't…I knew…I…" He didn't know what to say besides give her a gigantic hug. "I'm sorry." He said again, making Lydia giggle. She always found it funny when people apologized ten times more than they had to. To her, once was enough.

Isaac's gaze traveled to the billboard behind them and he raised an eyebrow at the blue piece of paper. He pulled away from Lydia quickly and slowly approached the flyer like it was going to blow up at him.

Lydia looked at him in confusion and followed him to see what he was looking at. When they reached the billboard, they were both surprised at what they saw.

**ARE YOU THE ONE?**

Stiles Stilinski is looking for the girl he fell in love with last Saturday.

She dropped a special bracelet that day.

It has a personal engraving on it.

If **YOU** are Stiles' girl, answer these questions below and turn this form to either Stiles himself or his resident best friend, Scott McCall.

**What is your name? Your grade?**

**What was on your head when you met Stiles?**

**What is the engraving on your bracelet?**

Lydia and Isaac shared a look before looking back at the flyer. They both turned around to see the commotion going on down the hall.

Lydia wasn't surprised to see a mob of girls trying to get to Stiles Stilinski.

  


 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott and Stiles have a talk, Stiles realizes something, and Isaac asks Allison to the dance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE WAIT GUYS. I'VE BEEN HELLA BUSY LATELY. But here's chapter 7 and eight will arrive soon! ;)

“SCOTT MCCALL!” Stiles shouted across the hall when he spotted the best friend he was so very pissed at.  

Scott spun his body around to see who was calling him, but turned back around when he saw it was Stiles.  

Stiles eventually caught up to him, pulling the back of his shirt to stop him from proceeding.  He twisted Scott to face him, and Scott could see the evident anger on his friend’s face.

“Stiles….” Stiles scowled at him before letting him go.

“‘Are you the one?’” He exclaimed angrily. “You put out a freaking flyer about her!” He continued.  He began to pace swiftly.  

“Stiles, I--”

“Don’t even get me started on how many girls have approached me.  Do you know how many stupid applications I got? Half the female population of this school has given me one of those damn papers,”  Stiles said, his head sharply snapping back to Scott. “And how do you think this makes me look? I look like a coward, I can’t even find the girl I like without my best friend doing everything for me, that’s what she’s going to think!”  Scott couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Stiles, she’s not going to think that.”  Scott assured him.  

Stiles slowly brought himself to face him, and by this time, the entire hallway was cleared.

It was just them.  

“You have no idea what she’s going to think, Scott,” He spat out. “I know that you’ve had more girlfriends than me and I know that I’ve never even been interested in a girl. You’ve had more girl experience and you probably think that you know exactly what she’s going do and what she’s going to say,” He said, his voice gradually raising as he stepped closer to Scott. “But this isn’t Allison or Kira or a girl you have physics with, Scott! This is a girl that neither of us even know the identity to, and that means that neither of us will know how she would react.”  

Scott was silent for a moment, absorbing everything Stiles had so loudly shouted at him.  He still didn’t quite understand why he was so angry.

“I was just trying to help.”

Stiles’ eyes softened for one slight moment before his scowl returned.  

“I get that,” He stated somewhat calmly. “It’s just...Scott, I’m not you.  I’m not Scott McCall. I’m popular now, but I would never be as popular as you.  Do you remember what it was like before high school? You and me? When we weren’t popular? When we weren’t good at lacrosse? When we weren’t important? We were no one, Scott,” He explained. “And sometimes I feel like I am still no one compared to you. To you, Scott McCall, who everyone wants to be friends, who girls fall in love with, who I’ll always be second to.  I’ll always be invisible whenever Scott McCall is in the picture because that’s just who he is. More popular, cooler and better than Stiles Stilinski.”  

Scott stared at him with a blank expression, utterly confused at his best friend’s feelings and thoughts on himself.

“Who would want Stiles Stilinski when there are so many people ten times better than him?”  

By now, Stiles’ hard, angry face was replaced with a dejected one.  He slouched down to the ground with his back leaned up against one of the lockers.  Scott quickly followed.

They just sat in silence for a moment.

And that was all they needed.  

“Stiles, you’re not no one. You’re someone.  You’re someone to me, and to your friends.  Allison? Isaac? Lydia?  You’re all someone to them,” Scott finally told him.  “Stop putting yourself down.  Whoever this girl is, she’ll love you just as much as you love her.  I know it.  Because who could possibly not love Stiles Stilinski?”  

Stiles smiled slightly at Scott’s small joke, causing Scott to grin.  

“There’s the smile I was looking for.”  

Stiles looked up to Scott and sighed, staring blankly at one of the flyers hanging on the wall in front of them.  Scott quickly stood up and walked to the wall, ripping it off.

“I can take these down if you want.  I can tell everyone that the search is off, and--” Stiles held up a hand to stop his words and shook his head.

“No, I think this might help,” Stiles stated, staring at the paper. “I wanted to find her on my own, but if I did that it would take me so much longer to find this girl.  I want to find her as soon as possible.  And I want to tell her how I feel.” He pronounced.

Scott grinned mischievously.

“Good,” He responded as he held up what looked like thousands and thousands of pieces of paper. “Because we have some work to do.”  

/

Two hours after school ended, Scott and Stiles had just finished looking through the first batch of mystery girl applications.

Nothing.

They found absolutely nothing.

No possible leads.  No one who was even remotely close to Bucket Girl.  

It pissed Stiles off. He wanted to find Bucket Girl as soon as he could. He wanted to be able to hold her and tell her everything he wanted to say.

But what if she didn’t feel the same?

He would be devastated.

Stiles was about to exit the library when he spotted a certain strawberry blonde genius sitting in the back corner.  

He knew he shouldn’t have walked to her, but whenever she was around, he always felt drawn to her.  

“Lydia.”  He got out.

Whenever Stiles was around her, he couldn’t seem to get the proper words out.  Her perfection and just everything about her made him completely speechless.

Her head lifted to see the familiar boy standing in front of her, and she smiled.

“Stiles.”  

Stiles would be lying if he said his heart didn’t flutter at the sound of her voice.

He hated feeling this way because he always felt like he was cheating on Bucket Girl when he thought of Lydia in such an admiral and romantic way.  

It took a few more seconds for Stiles to figure out what he was going to say.  

Lydia had constantly found Stiles’ silence amusing because whenever she’d see him with his friends or in the hallway, he seemed to be the only one doing the talking.

Stiles took a seat next to her and looked at what she was doing.

She was writing.

She was writing a letter?

“What are you writing?”  He asked casually, trying to subtly glance at a few words on the paper.  

Lydia didn’t seem to notice but she was still worried that Stiles might have read parts of the letter she was writing.

A letter to her father.

After her talk with Stiles on Saturday, she had been missing her Dad a whole lot more than usual.  

She had decided to start composing a letter she was going to send to him to ask him to come home.  

But she had no idea what she was going to say.

Both her and Stiles could tell by the lack of words on the paper that it was going to take more than a single afternoon for her to write the letter.  

Lydia felt a wave of worry come upon her as she watched Stiles’ facial expression.  

If he found out she was writing to her father that had left many years ago, he might get a hint that she was Bucket Girl.

And that scared the hell out of her.  

“A letter,” She stated, knowing that she was going to have to answer the question “Who?” sooner or later. “Um, to Jackson.  I wanted to make amends with him...because...I wanted to go to Spring Fling with him…” Lydia lied unconvincingly.  

But Stiles was too warped in the idea of Lydia going back to that asshole that he didn’t even think to realize that she might have been lying.  

“What?” He asked incredulously. “No.  You’re not going to do that.”  

Lydia was genuinely confused and she raised her eyebrow at him.

“Why?”  Stiles groaned as he put his head in his hands.   
“Jackson is just...He….You shouldn’t…”  Stiles couldn’t find the words to express the anger and jealousy he was feeling.

And in that moment, he knew.

He knew that he was in love with Lydia Martin too.

He was in love with two girls.

And he didn’t know who he would choose.

“I….I um…” Stiles’ anger soon disappeared.  He soon was placed into a thoughtful mode, now mentally trying deciding in that moment if he truly was in love with Lydia.

He lifted his head to look at her, and one look was all it took.

“Oh shit.”  He said aloud, causing Lydia to raise both her eyebrows at him and place a hand on his shoulder.

“Stiles?”  

Stiles quickly got up and looked at Lydia one more time before racing for the library exit.  Lydia stood up as well, watching him leave the library.

“Stiles!” She called out in confusion.  

Stiles simply waved at her without turning around to see her expression or her in general as he couldn’t look at her without feeling the urge to just grab her and kiss her.  

When he was far enough away from the library, he leaned against the nearest wall and sighed deeply to himself.  He placed his face in his palm and groaned loudly.

“Oh my God, I’m in love with two girls.”  

/

Isaac was hastily pacing on the doorstep of her house, his hands fidgeting like crazy, unsure if he wanted to pull through with the bold and daring move he had thought of as he got out of lacrosse practice that afternoon.  

“Should I press the doorbell?” He asked himself. “C’mon, Isaac. You’ve asked girls out before.  This is no different, right?”

But he was wrong.

He wanted this to turn out differently. He wanted her to go to Spring Fling with him and he wanted them to be more than just high school dates to one dance.  He wanted them to last.  

His thoughts were soon broken by the front door opening as he was pacing, and he froze as he saw her, just standing there in complete confusion.

But he thought she looked more beautiful than he had last seen her.  

“Isaac?”  She asked, her head tilting to the left slightly.

Isaac gulped and fixed his lacrosse jacket, clearing his throat as he gave her a cheeky smile.

“Allison.”  

Allison looked behind her and slowly stepped out of her house, closing the door behind her.  After she made sure the door was closed, she turned back to Isaac as she wrapped her arms around her body.

“What are you doing here?”  She asked him with a slight smile on her face.  

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Isaac’s presence.  She actually enjoyed it.  But she was confused as to why the boy was pacing back and forth on her front porch.  

“I…” Isaac tried to find the right words to use to ask such a question, but he couldn’t.  He knew he should have planned this ahead of time, but he didn’t want to wait.  He couldn’t wait.  

It was that sense of urgency that got him talking.

“Okay, I know this is crazy,” He started. “And I know that you’re still getting over Scott. I get that. I completely understand.  But...I mean...I’m a good guy. I think I’m genuinely a good guy. I’m polite, and I’m generous. I think of others before myself, you know all that good stuff. And I...I was just…”

Allison looked at him with a huge grin now, expectantly waiting for him to ask the question she knew was going to inevitable come. “I was hoping that if you didn’t have any plans for Spring Fling that you, Allison Argent, would go with me?”  He asked rather uncertainly.

He had no idea whether Allison would accept his request or decline it nicely.  He knew that Scott was a huge part in her life and that going out with one of his teammates might be awkward for her.

And throughout the entire ride to her house, Isaac contemplated all the ways to tell her ex-boyfriend, who just happened to be one of his newest friends and lacrosse captain that he asked out the girl he was in love with for years.  

For Allison, it was an obvious decision.   
“Yes.”  

Isaac’s eyes widened before sighing with relief and smiling.

“Great, great.” He said. “You think Scott will be okay with this?”  

Allison thought about it for a moment and for a small second she thought that he might have gotten a little mad.

But that thought was wiped away as she thought of the many girls Scott could choose from.

She simply just smiled and shook her head.

“Scott will be fine.”  

 

 

 

 


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allison and Scott discuss moving on from each other, Stiles asks Allison for help, Lydia avoids Stiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER EIGHT!!! REVIEW!!!

"Allison, can I talk to you?"

Allison was more than surprised to see her ex-boyfriend wanting to talk to her privately for the first time in months.

She didn't know why but she was scared to death he had found out about Isaac asking her to Spring Fling.  She knew that they had both promised to keep it on the downlow because they didn't fully know how Scott was going to react.  

"Yeah, of course."  

Allison noticed that Scott's eyes were set on anything other than her.  She wondered why.

"I wanted to talk to you about Spring Fling." He stated simply, his hands slipping into his pockets casually.  

"Okay. What about it?" She asked calmly.

She saw Scott take in a deep breath and sigh.  

"I was wondering if you'd be okay with me asking Kira Yukimura,"  he said slowly. "To you know, go with me to Spring Fling."   

Allison's eyes widened.

This was not what she was expecting.  

Scott stared at her for minutes, waiting for her to say something, anything.

"Allison?"

She finally realized she was thinking too long and smiled slightly.

"Kira's a nice girl." Was all she said.  

Scott raised an eyebrow as his mouth opened a little.

"So, you're completely okay with this?" He asked once again.

Allison continued to smile bravely as the two of them finally decided to talk about moving on.

She'd been meaning to talk to him for awhile.  She'd been wanting to have this talk. Ever since their break up, she and everyone else knew that she was still not over her break up with Scott.

She loved him.

She wasn't willing to let go, but she knew she had to eventually. Scott was no longer her 'forever'.  He was going to be someone else's. She needed and wanted him to move on, because she knew that when he moved on, she would also.

"Yes, Scott, I think it's obvious that the both of us need to find new people. It's about time," She told him quietly. "Yes, it will hurt seeing you with another girl.  But I'm okay with it. I have to be. I have to be happy for you no matter who you decide to be with. I need to let you go. I need to let you go because..." She looked away from him for a moment before composing herself and throwing back that smile on again.

The bravest one she's ever put on.

"Because I still love you, Scott McCall," She admitted as she watched his face soften. "I will always love you. I can't stop." She added with a small laugh. "And if I love you, I need to let you go. Because I always want to see the people I love happy.  Even if it isn't with me."

Scott leaned closer to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek and smile at her.

"I love you too, Allison," He said before smiling mischievously. "Maybe I can get a really good guy to ask you to Spring Fling."  

Allison reddened before smiling and shaking her head.

"No need," She answered him. "I already got asked last night."

Scott narrowed his eyes at his ex-girlfriend and frowned.

"By who?"

/

"YOU ASKED ALLISON.  AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK TO ASK IF I WAS OKAY WITH IT?"

Stiles sighed as he stepped in between his best friend and his newfound friend.

"Scott, calm down."  

Scott glared at Stiles before lightly shoving him to the side and continuing to stare Isaac down.

"No, Stiles, I will not calm down,"  He shouted once again, not once tearing his eyes away from Isaac. "Bro code, Lahey. Ever heard of it? You should have asked me first instead of just straight up asking her and I find out from her."

"I'm sorry!" Isaac let out for the hundredth time within a time span of five minutes.

"Scott, stop." Stiled tried to intervene again but was once again brushed off.

"What makes this okay?" He asked infuriated. "Nothing would make this okay!"

Stiles watched Isaac's face twist up in shame and fear for himself and that's when he finally decided to stop Scott.

He wanted him to get out his anger at first, but then when he saw Isaac getting yelled at for asking the girl he liked to the dance, Stiles finally realized that Isaac did not deserve it.

"Scott," Stiles said more firmly this time. "Stop."

Stiles stepped in front of Isaac this time planting his feet in their place so Scott could not brush him away.

Scott continue to glare at Isaac before turning to his best friend and frowning.

"You seriously cannot be siding with him, can you?" Scott asked in surprise. "What if this was happening to you, Stiles? I doubt you would be too happy."

Stiles raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"I doubt this would would even happen to me. You seem to forget I have never had a girlfriend."  He told him.

This caused Isaac to widen his eyes in shock.

"Seriously?"

Stiles sighed and nodded in Isaac's direction.

"Yes, Isaac, I haven't."  Stiles turned back to Scott. "But, if so be it this ever happened to me, I would not be reacting like you."  

Scott rose an eyebrow.

"You're kidding," He snorted. "You wouldn't be extremely pissed off at the friend that asked out your ex-girlfriend?"

Stiles rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Scott, you're missing the point here," Stiles explained to him. "Your friend asked out your ex-girlfriend.  How pissed would you be if some jerk like Jackson Whittemore asked her to Spring Fling?"

Thoughts of Lydia flashed in his mind as he clenched his fist. He had to focus on the situation in front of him.  

Scott looked away from the two and thought about it for a moment.

He would be more beyond pissed if Jackson asked her, mainly because he feared Jackson would hurt her.

He looked up to meet eyes with both Stiles and Isaac.

"I...I guess you're right, Stiles," He focused his gaze on Isaac. "I shouldn't be yelling at you.  I should be happy that you were the one to ask her, someone that I trust and am comfortable with."

Scott nodded to himself, as if reaffirming his thoughts.

"I have to be happy for her no matter who's she's with."  

Isaac and Stiles grinned as Scott took a deep breath.

"Thank you, Isaac,"  Scott said, slapping a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you for being the guy I know will take care of her."

Isaac patted his back and smiled.

"You're welcome."

/

"Allison!" Stiles called from down the hall.

Allison was walking to her free period in the library. She was meeting up with Lydia to talk about the boy that was now calling for her.

"Stiles?"  

He caught up with her, out of breath and panting heavily.  

"I...I need to talk to...talk to you about some...thing."  Allison raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement, gesturing him to continue. "I'm having some...girl troubles."

Allison pursed her lips together and nodded.

"Explain." She demanded, though already knowing what the problem was.

Stiles bit his lip and scratched the back of his neck nervously. He didn't know how to bring this up to her.

"Um, well..." He began. "I...I think you know about the mystery girl I'm looking for, right?" He watched Allison nod in affirmation. "Okay, well, that day I talked to her...the day I met her, I haven't stopped thinking about her since.  She....She's everything I want in a girl's heart and soul. Someone who is recovering from a broken heart. Someone who's felt that kind of pain before. Someone who is real. That's the kind of girl she was," Stiles explained to her.  "But then...then there's...Lydia. God, Lydia Martin. I don't know what it is about her but there's something that draws me to her. I can't stay away. And when I'm with her, I'm speechless. Everything she does never ceases to amaze me.  She's...perfect."

Allison knew that look on his face.

She tried to bite back her smile of excitement for Stiles because she knew something he didn't.

The two girls he was talking about was simply one girl.

"Allison...I think I'm in love with the both of them."  

Allison tried to hard to keep a straight face as she looked at him in fake surprise.

"I never knew you saw Lydia like that." She said.  She genuinely never thought Stiles would ever love anyone like he described loving Lydia.  

"i don't know...it just happened so fast." He said. “Allison, what do I do?”

Allison sighed and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Well, you need to choose which girl you want to be with.  Because you can only ask one girl to Spring Fling.”  She told him.

Stiles ran his hand through his hair and nodded.

“I know, I know.  But I always get so nervous around Lydia and the identity to my mystery girl is still very much a mystery…”  

Allison gave him a sympathetic look.

“What’s meant to be will be, Stiles,” She told him. “Don’t think too much about it. Just let it be.”  

Stiles smiled at her and nodded in agreement.

“You’re right, Allison.”  He said. “Just let it be.”  

/

“Lydia Martin!”  Allison called at the end of the day.  

The strawberry blonde whipped around to find her best friend running to her.

“Allison?”

Allison finally reached her and tried to catch her breath.

“Where the hell have you been? I’ve literally been looking for you all day?” She panted.

Lydia blushed and shrugged.

“Library.”  

Allison glared at her accusingly.

“I went to the library like fifty times, you were not there.”  Lydia rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, I know,” She told her sarcastically. “I meant the public library.”

Allison raised an eyebrow.

Why was Lydia at the library?

Lydia saw her friend’s confusion and shook her head with a smile.

“Before you ask…” She began. “I was...hiding?”

The brunette in front of her just stared at her, still confused.

“You ditched school?”  

Lydia sighed and shrugged weakly.

“Not really!”  She exclaimed defensively. “I...I just skipped second period through sixth…”  

Allison knew exactly what she was doing, and Lydia knew she knew.

“You’re hiding from Stiles?” Lydia bit her lip and nodded. “Why?”

“I don’t know...I just...it’s hard to see him. I want to tell him so badly that I’m the girl that he’s looking for. But I’m terrified that when he finds out it’s me he’s going to be so disappointed. Or maybe even mad that I didn’t tell him.”  She said sadly. “He won’t want me.”

Allison shook her head.

“He won’t think that, and he’ll still want you Lydia.”

Lydia looked at her angrily.  
“How would you know! You don’t know how it feels to not be wanted, but I do! Jackson didn’t want me and my own father didn’t even want me.  Everything just falls into place for you! You’ve never had to have the fear that someone won’t want you, because everyone wants you.  Everyone wants to be Allison Argent’s friend, everyone wants to date Allison Argent, everyone wants to be Allison Argent.  There’s not one person on this entire planet that doesn’t want you, Allison!”  

Allison watched as Lydia’s face turned red and how angry she looked.  

It made her angry that Lydia thought this about her.

“It’s not true.”  Allison simply said.

Lydia shook her head.

“Stop! Stop saying that! You don’t even know--”

“SHUT UP.” Allison shouted angrily, the tears she held in finally coming out.  “Shut up, shut up, shut up.  You don’t know what I’ve been through.  Everyone wants me? I barely see my parents. They never want to spend time with me. Everyone wants to be my friend?  Everyone wants to be me? They only want to be my friend and they only want to be me because I’m popular.  Because I’m friends with the lacrosse captains.  Everyone wants to date me?” Allison paused for a moment while looking at the ground. “Scott didn’t want to date me.  You want to know why we broke up?”

Lydia looked at Allison sadly.  She had never thought she would see her like this: hurt and broken.

“He broke up with me because he ‘wasn’t sure if he could really commit to something this big.’ Can you believe that?” Allison shook her head. “And then he goes off with Kira Yukimura and asks her to the dance. Yeah, he didn’t want me either.”  She said, finally looking up. “So, don’t say that everyone wants me when you don’t know the full story. A lot of people don’t want me.”  

Lydia and Allison just stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime before they both engulfed each other in a hug.

“I’m sorry.”  
“Me too.”  

They pulled away and smiled before walking down the hallway.

“But really, Lydia, I would just tell him.”

Lydia looked up at Allison with a huge grin and nodded in affirmation.

“You’re right,” She said. “You’re right. Just rip the band-aid off.”  

Lydia stood in place for awhile before Allison pushed her in the direction of Stiles’ locker.

“Go!”  She laughed.

But when Lydia got to Stiles’ locker she soon regretted everything she thought. She regretted her confidence. She regretted her thoughts that Stiles was different.

Because when Lydia got to Stiles’ locker, she saw Stiles kissing a girl, and she could hear her heart break in a million pieces.

Stiles Stilinski wasn’t any different.

He was exactly the same as every other popular kid.

Mainstream.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia is heartbroken but Allison helps her heal. Stiles explains everything. Scott give Stiles some true advice. Stiles gets a surprise in his locker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR SUCH A LATE UPDATE. Nonetheless, here is chapter nine. there will be one more chapter after this! please tell me what you think and review!! :) thank you for your patience, i love all of you!

Lydia hadn’t been out the entire weekend. 

She sat at home watching the Notebook and screaming at the TV because in her mind she knew that love like that would never happen to her.

Now Monday morning, Lydia sat in bed staring at her clock.

She didn’t want to get up.

She didn’t want to go to school.

She didn’t want to see Stiles.

Spring Fling would be upon them in less than five days and Lydia wasn’t too thrilled about it as she was earlier before.

Of course, Lydia thought she was going to get asked before.

Now all of her hopes for that happening was completely crushed all by one guy. 

 

Before she even knew what was happening, Allison marched into Lydia’s room and stopped at the edge of her bed, crossing her arms.  

 

“Lydia Martin, get up and stop moping!” She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the hair.  Lydia threw her a death glare before replying.

“Allison, it’s been two days,” She said. “I have every right to be moping right now.”  

Allison rolled her eyes and moved closer to the brokenhearted strawberry blonde. 

“You’re so much better than what you’re feeling right now,”  She told her. “You’re so much stronger than this, Lyds.”  

Lydia shook her head as she stared at the ground with a blank expression.

“Sometimes I don’t think so,”  She closed her eyes and whipped her head away from Allison’s view. “I don’t think I can go to that dance.”  

Allison rapidly shook her head as she grabbed hold of Lydia’s hands. 

“No, Lydia! Don’t let this get the best of you. Don’t let Stiles break you like this, please!”  

Lydia didn’t respond, still looking away from her best friend. 

She didn’t want her to see her like this. 

Allison pursed her lips.

“No, you’re going to this dance.” 

“Ally—“ 

“You’re going to go to this dance and you’re going to show Stiles what he’s missing!  There’s no question about it, okay!” 

Lydia was quiet for a moment before she finally looked back at Allison and stared at her. 

“Okay, okay.” She said calmly. “I’ll go.”  

Allison grinned and gave her a hug, rubbing her back soothingly. 

“It’ll be so much fun, trust me,” Allison assured her. “I also kind of got someone to ask you.” She added with a wink. 

Lydia raised an eyebrow as she got up to go change.  

“What?”  She asked surprised as she opened up her closet. “Who?” 

/

“Lydia Martin, will you please do me the honor of not rejecting me and make me look like an absolute loser and go to Spring Fling with me?”  

Lydia amusingly stared down at the freshman on the varsity lacrosse team who was down on one knee, holding a bouquet of her favorite flowers and laughed uncontrollably.  There was a small crowd forming around them, and she could see many fellow students waiting to see if Lydia would accept or reject the freshman’s offer.  

Allison being one of them. 

Allison hadn’t told Lydia who she had gotten to ask her to the dance.  She wasn’t sure if how she would react.  So, she just kept it quiet for the entire day, despite Lydia’s constant nagging.

At least it gave her something to think about other than Stiles for the entire day.  

But as she watched her best friend hopelessly trying to contain her smile and laugh, she knew exactly what she was going to do. 

“Of course I will, Liam.”  

Allison squealed with happiness as she threw here hands together in pure joy.  

In the corner of her eye, she spotted Stiles looking terribly distraught and walking away from the scene.  Her body grew with panic, hoping that Lydia didn’t see him.

She whipped her head to look at her best friend, who was occupied talking to Liam at her locker.  

She sighed with relief as she followed him down the empty hallway. 

“Stiles!” She cried out.  He turned around and stopped, looking at her angrily. 

“Why did you do that?” He questioned, his eyed filled with absolute hatred and anger. “God, Allison, you knew I liked her! You _knew_ I loved her! And yet you set her up with Liam! Liam, of all people! Why the hell did you do that?”  

Allison gave him a frustrated look and shook her head at him.  
“You don’t get to play the victim, not today!”  She told him. “Lydia saw you on Friday. She saw you kissing that other girl, Stiles!”  

Stiles’ look of anger was completely wiped away with a look of surprise.   
“Now, tell me, if you really “loved” Lydia, then why the hell would _you_ be kissing another girl?”  

Stiles opened and closed his mouth several times before closing his eyes and sighing with distress and frustration.

“Okay, it’s not what it looked like.” 

Allison rose her eyebrow, clearly not believing his bold statement. 

“Oh, really?” 

“Heather has been an old family friend of mine for the longest time. I’m pretty sure that we were practically joint at the hip when we were four. My dad made me ask her because he had told me that her mom was telling him how Heather was so upset and kept crying about how she wasn’t going to get asked to the dance. It just so happened when I asked her, she jumped on me and kissed me.”  He explained. “I was going to Lydia’s locker to tell her, but then I saw Liam asking her. I asked Scott where he came up with the idea to ask a junior, and he said you convinced him.” 

Allison wasn’t expecting Stiles to have a convincing reason, and now this made her feel terrible.  

She just created another roadblock to Lydia and Stiles’ relationship. 

“Oh God…Stiles, I am so sorry…I didn’t know…” She stammered. “But what was I supposed to do? She was heartbroken and hurt. Lydia wasn’t going to the dance until I told her someone was going to ask her!” 

Stiles nodded understandingly. 

“I get it.  I’m glad you did…sort of. I wouldn’t have wanted Lydia to be so sad.” 

Allison sighed.

“So, what are you going to do?”  

Stiles shrugged with a frown. 

“I don’t know yet.” 

/ 

Stiles sat alone in front of his jeep in the school parking lot. 

He really did not want to go home and have to deal with his father telling him how proud he is that his son is a good person for asking a girl who wasn’t going to get asked to the dance. 

He hated how this happened to him. 

“Stiles?”  

Stiles turned his head to see that his best friend was standing to his right, still in his lacrosse jersey as well. 

“What are you still doing here?”  

Stiles turned back to look straight ahead. 

“I could say the same to you.” 

Scott raised his eyebrow and shrugged, taking a seat next to Stiles in front of the jeep. 

“Something is obviously on your mind and I’m pretty sure I can guess what it is.” 

Stiles groaned, placing his head in between his hands. 

“God, why is this happening to me? I’ve been a semi-decent person these past few years!” He exclaimed. “I don’t deserve this!”  

Scott pat his back comfortingly. 

“You know what they say, everything happens for a reason.”   
Stiles shook his head.   
There was a silence between them before Stiles picked up his head and spoke up again.

“I’m going to tell Heather I can’t go with her tonight.” 

Scott gazed at him, not arguing with him, but simply just asking, “Why?” 

Stiles met eyes with his best friend.

“It wouldn’t be fair to either of us if only one of us was completely into going together.  I don’t want her to have a bad time just because I would rather be on the dance floor with someone else other than her.” 

Scott nodded. 

“And this someone else is….?”  

Stiles closed his eyes and sighed deeply again. 

“I don’t know.”  

Scott raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” 

Stiles gapped, trying to find the right words to say and explain this to his best friend.

“It’s just…I…I was really hoping Bucket Girl would come forward before the dance so I could have a chance to better choose between her and Lydia….but, she never did.”  

Scott sighed. 

He didn’t really know how he could help Stiles at this point. He tried to get the mystery girl to reveal herself, but she never stepped forward, leaving his best friend still hurt. 

“Well then, I guess the only thing I can say right now is….Uh…I’m just going to straight up tell you the sad truth…” He said, making Stiles turn to him with a solemn face. “You need to forget about Bucket Girl, okay? She obviously didn’t feel the same way that you did if she hasn’t contacted you yet…so…just…just stick with Lydia, okay? You obviously care for her.” 

Stiles let his best friend’s advice sink in and he nodded as if he was telling himself the same thing. 

“Yeah…yeah, you’re right.  I need to let go of Bucket Girl.” He stood up and grinned, running to the driver’s seat of his car. 

Scott watched him and laughed. 

“Where are you going?” 

“I need to tell my dad!” 

/ 

Lydia was doing homework on her bed when Allison came in, her face covered with shame and disappointment.

Lydia didn’t seem to notice though as she just looked at her friend with a huge smile and laughed. 

“Thanks for getting Liam to ask me. It was really sweet,” She told her. “I’m actually kind of excited to go to Spring Fling now.  Liam is a great kid.” 

Allison frowned and shook her head. 

“I made a mistake by doing that, Lyds.”  

Lydia raised her eyebrow in confusion as she looked up from her homework. 

“What do you mean?” 

Allison sighed as she sat next to Lydia on her bed and put her hands together. 

“I made a mistake by setting you up with Liam.”  

“But…he’s a good kid. He’s not going to hurt me, not like Stiles—“ 

Allison put a hand up to stop her.   
“The girl kissed him first, and Stiles was forced to ask her to the dance,” She told her. “Stiles loves you, Lydia, and I was wrong to set you up with Liam.” 

Lydia shook her head in denial and got up from the bed, pacing back and forth and glancing at Allison.

“No…no, if he loved me, why didn’t he just tell me? Or ask me to the dance sooner?”  Allison shrugged.   
“Maybe he was going to ask you this week.”  

Lydia put her hands on her head.   
“But…but…” Lydia looked at Allison. “What am I supposed to do?” 

Allison was quiet for a second.   
“You tell him.”  

Lydia’s eyes almost popped out of her head as she immediately shook her head at the idea. 

“What? No. No. If I tell him, then I’ll want to go to Spring Fling with him, and Liam already asked me. No. That’s not an option.”    
Allison smirked and shook her head. 

“I didn’t mean _you_ tell him.”  

If it was possible, Allison made Lydia even more confused than before. 

“Who is the other person that Stiles is basically heads over heels for that we both happen to know pretty well?” 

Lydia’s eyes widened with realization as she smiled. 

“Bucket Girl.”  

/ 

Stiles trudged to school unhappily the next morning.  

Not only was his father far from disappointed in him for telling Heather he couldn’t go with her, but the girl he was undeniably in love with was being take to the dance by a freshman. 

Could this week get any worse? 

He opened his locker slowly, definitely not expecting a small folded piece of paper to fly right out of it. 

Stiles bent down to pick it up and he unfolded the paper. 

What he read made his stomachs do flips and undoubtedly surprised him.  

 

_Meet me on the dance floor at the last slow song._

 

 _~Bucket Girl_  

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being so patient with me throughout this whole process.   
> This won't be the last time you see me! I have works in progress ideas i am working on.
> 
> LOVE YOU ALL  
> Please review!

Lydia was at Allison's house, holding up two different dresses at one time.

"Ally, which dress should I wear first?"

Allison looked up from her make up and turned to look at Lydia, analyzing the two dresses she had pulled out.

"That one." She said, pointing to the blue dress that glittered. It was simple, but beautiful, A description that fit Lydia perfectly.

"Okay, cool." Lydia replied, placing the blue dress on Allison's bed and neatly folding the other one into a small handbag she would be bringing to the dance.

"How are you feeling about tonight?" Allison asked her as she finished her makeup. She looked up at Lydia to see her just staring at herself in the mirror with

the dress on, but her makeup not completely finished yet. "Lyds?"

"I don't know how I'm feeling," She answered. "When I put that note in his locker, I had so much confidence. That was four days ago. But right now, a few hours

before when I'm supposed to tell him the truth? I feel anxious…"

Lydia looked away from the mirror and looked at Allison panicky.

"What if he becomes disappointed that I'm not the girl she expected? Or even worse, angry that his mystery girl had been so close all this time and she never

came forward?"

Allison stood up and walked to her worried best friend, placing her hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"I believe in this plan, I believe in Stiles, and most of all, I believe in you," She told her. "I know that this plan will work, I know Stiles won't get mad, and I know

you have the confidence to go through with this. Lydia, you're an amazing girl that deserves to be happy. Please be happy."

Lydia smiled before she flipped her hair and grabbed Allison's makeup bag, putting her last minute touches.

Allison looked at her phone and ran to the window, her mouth forming a small smile before turning to Lydia.

"Isaac and Liam are here."

Lydia gave her a grin.

"Go down there. I'll be there in a second." Lydia told her.

Allison grabbed her things and rushed downstairs to tend to the boys.

As soon as she saw Allison was out of sight, Lydia dropped her smile. She grabbed her things and looked in the mirror once more before heading downstairs.

She walked downstairs and saw Isaac and Allison pinning their corsages on each other. Isaac was the first to spot her.

"Okay, now that we're all here, I can ask my question," He said. "Did anyone else happen to forget that this kid is a freshman and can't drive? Because I did."

Liam and Lydia laughed as Allison rolled her eyes.

"No, honey, you were the only one." She said with a baby voice that made Isaac pout.

Lydia approached Liam and he smiled cutely.

"You look great, Lydia."

Lydia giggled and nodded.

"You look great as well." Liam slipped her corsage on her wrist and Lydia attempted to pin Liam's on him.

It didn't work so well.

"Ow!" Lydia exclaimed as she poked herself.

"You okay?"

Lydia looked at Liam with fake bright eyes and nodded, finally pinning the corsage on him successfully.

Isaac looked at the time and nudged Allison.

"Oh shoot," She commented. Lydia and Liam whipped around to look at her worriedly. "We should be at Scott's right now. We need to go."

Lydia nodded as she dragged Liam and Isaac out to the car, somewhat prepared to face Stiles.

/

They arrived at Scott's a little later than they should have, but it went unnoticed. There were many people at the McCall house: Scott, Kira, Ethan, Aiden, Danny,

Mason, Erica and her date, Malia, Cora, and Boyd.

It only took her a second to see that Jackson had new Barbie girl on his arm, and she wasn't really phased. It didn't really hurt anymore.

She loved someone else.

But it took her about a minute to see that Jackson's new Barbie girl was the girl that Stiles was supposed to be taking to the dance tonight.

And that's when Lydia started frantically looking for Stiles.

Allison noticed her eyes moving across the people in the house, and it was obvious to her and Isaac what she was doing.

"Lydia."

Lydia didn't stop; she continued to look for him.

Was he going solo tonight?

Did he dump his date?

Did he dump his date  _for her_?

"Lydia, you need to focus and stick to the plan. Crazily looking for Stiles  _was not_  part of the plan."

Lydia turned her head to stare at Allison.

"Did you know that Stiles was going to dump his date?"

Allison and Isaac shared a confused look before Allison shook her head.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Allison replied. "How do you know Stiles dumped his date?"

Lydia gave them a skeptical look before nodding to herself.

"Jackson is here with Stiles' ex-date."

"Allison raised an eyebrow as Scott and Kira came up to them.

"Stiles dumped Heather despite his father's orders and Jackson, being the "nice" guy he is," Lydia snorted at the statement. "took the broken Heather and asked

her to the dance."

Lydia continued to look around for Stiles and Liam took notice. He didn't say anything, but he knew.

When Lydia couldn't find him, she gave up, turning back to the boy she was supposed to be paying attention to.

The before party went well for the most part; everyone was having fun, taking pictures and talking over cups of Coke and small finger foods.

Stiles was still nowhere to be seen.

Allison and Isaac asked Scott numerous times where Stiles could have been and every time Scott said he had no idea.

Allison knew that was a lie because Scott always knew where Stiles was.

She also knew that Stiles was hiding up in Scott's room because she had seen him try to come downstairs numerous times.

But every time he saw Lydia, he seemed to run back upstairs.

And that's exactly what he was doing.

He couldn't stand the sight of Lydia having fun with another guy that wasn't him.

He liked Liam but he was angry that he was Lydia's date.

So yes, every time he tried to join everyone downstairs, he ran back upstairs like a cowards because he couldn't handle his emotions.

He spent most of his time up at the top stairs, watching Lydia like a creeper and waiting for a moment in which she was alone.

He waited a very long time before she was actually alone.

Liam was called over to take a picture with Malia and Cora, and Lydia was left alone.

Right by the staircase.

"Lydia."

Lydia turned around to see Stiles sitting at the top the staircase.

Her mouth fell slightly, minority unprepared for this encounter.

On their way there, she had chanted in her head over and over that she'll be okay when she sees him. But now, locking eyes with him forty-five minutes after she

had told herself that, she was completely unprepared.

"S-Stiles."

He gave her a smile before getting up and walking towards her.

"Lyds, can we talk?"

Lydia tilted her head and nodded uncertainly, waiting for Stiles to reach her.

"What?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you for awhile…about…things…?" Stiles' voice began to crack and his statement came out as more of question.

Lydia raised her eyebrow and looked at him skeptically.

"What things?"

Stiles couldn't see to find the words to say to her.

"I…" Stiles' words seemed lost in his own mind.

Lydia rolled her eyes as she began to back away.

"Stiles, if you have nothing to say—"

Stiles grabbed her arm and held her stare.

"I do have something to say," He said slowly. He took a deep breath, her hand still held in his. "Lydia, you make me so nervous. When I'm around you, I can't

even remember what I wanted to say the second before. You make me feel things that no one has ever made me feel before," He told her, watching Lydia's eyes

brighten up as he spoke.

"Stiles…"

"Lydia, I love you. I've loved you since I first met you. Even if I didn't realize it until later, I've always loved you. And I always will."

Lydia looked more than dazed as she looked at the boy in front of her, his eyes begging for some sort of response.

"Stiles, I'm sorry…" She saw Stiles' face drop. "But I just don't think I can believe you."

Stiles raised an eyebrow; that was not the response he was expecting.

"You don't believe me?"

Lydia slowly shook her head.

"I don't."

Stiles began shaking his head frantically, his grip on her hands becoming tighter.

"But you have to," He said desperately. "Lydia, I love you and I can't let you go. Please, believe me. Look in my eyes and see I'm telling you how I really feel.  _Please._ "

Lydia gently took her hands away from him.

"I'm sorry, Stiles."

As she walked away, his heart broke further, if it was possible.

/

The group arrived at the dance, and everyone began grabbing masks that were provided by the school.

It was a masquerade, after all.

It was obvious to everyone that Stiles Stilinski did not want to be there.

People questioned why he was even at the dance if he was having such a terrible time.

But Scott knew.

And so did Allison and Lydia.

He was waiting. Like he always did.

He was waiting for her.

Scott and Kira had moved over to the dance floor right when they got there, both of them eager to get moving.

Allison, on the other hand, must have gotten some of Stiles' duller mood because the frown on her face wouldn't go away.

"Gee, Ally, if I knew you were going to be such a party pooper, I don't think I would have asked you to the dance." She heard a playful voice behind her.

She smirked slightly before turning around her and grabbing the cup of punch her date had gotten for her.

"I'm sorry."

Isaac shrugged as he took a sip of his drink.

"I'm okay," He said, his eyes not looking at her. "The question is, if you are?"

Allison looked up at him, her smile bright, but her eyes sad.

"I don't know."

Isaac gestured to Scott and Kira who were obviously having a grand time on the dance floor.

"Is it because of him?"

Allison tensed a little, her hands freezing.

"I…" Isaac turned to her this time, his expression knowing. "Yes."

Isaac sighed as he wrapped his arm around Allison, making her shoulders tense even more.

"Ally, you said it yourself, you need to move on."

Allison nodded uncertainly, and looked up at him.

"I know, I know…"

"Then move on," He told her. "I'm not trying to be harsh here, but he obviously has." He points at Scott, the two of them watching the pair on the dance floor

smiling and dancing.

"I know." Allison said sadly.

"And, you have a very handsome date that can distract you for the rest of the night." Allison rolled her eyes before linking arms with him and dragging him to

the dance floor.

"Then distract me."

Isaac placed a chaste kiss on her lips, surprising her slightly, and smiled at her before moving further in the dance floor.

/

Liam and Lydia were taking a break from dancing.

Liam had noticed that Lydia couldn't stop moving since they had left Scott's house that night, and he had a feeling he knew the reason why.

"Lydia, are you alright?"

Lydia's head snapped to him and she gave him a fake smile.

"Of course," She responded cheerily. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Liam gave her an 'are you serious' look before sighing.

"Obviously, something is on your mind if you can't stop moving for one second, Lyds." He told her.

Lydia hadn't even realized her fidgeting.

She finally gave in, grabbing Liam's hand gently and looking at him.

"I'm really sorry for tonight, Liam," She says. "It's just…I feel so guilty for having you take me to this dance when my heart wants someone else."

Liam gave her a cute smile, silently laughing. He saw this coming.

"I get it," he told her. "It's because of Stiles."

Lydia's eyes widened.

"…What?"

Liam smiled and tilted his head.

"You don't have to hide it from me, Lyds. I saw it a mile away. I know you love Stiles, and knowing him he probably loves you too."

Lydia was surprised that a freshman could observe in so little time but retain so much information.

"Wow."

Liam shrugged.

"I pay attention." He said. "And, I think you should go after Stiles. He seemed pretty bummed out tonight. maybe you can make him feel better. Tell him you

love him, maybe?"

Lydia gave him a small smile before shaking her head.

"Thank you for the advice, but I have my own plan." She glanced at the clock and then turned back to him. "Thank you for understanding. You're a great

friend."

Lydia threw herself on him quickly, enveloping him in a hug before grabbing her bag and running away.

She found Allison and Isaac on the dance floor, quickly gesturing to her the time. Allison gave her a worried look before rushing her to the bathroom.

/

The last song was about to come on and Stiles unwilling pushed himself off the seat he was planted on all night.

Somehow, he felt that Bucket Girl was just playing with him and she wasn't actually going to show up.

But he still made his way to the center of the dance floor, standing awkwardly around many couples.

It seems like hours until he sees a familiar figure walking towards him.

She's wearing a bright red dress and walking up to him slowly, making him wait in agony.

It was actually happening.

This had to be Bucket Girl.

When she reached him, he was just waiting for her to say those words.

The words that would confirm everything.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and whispered the words to him.

 _The_  words.

"Love like you've never been hurt."

Stiles couldn't contain himself anymore.

He lifted her mask only so that her mouth would be uncovered.

He kissed her passionately, letting all the emotions he'd had since that day of the car wash.

Her arms wrapped around his waist and he held her, just like he wanted to.

Stiles pulled away first, wanting to know the identity of Bucket Girl.

He gently took of the mask covering her beautiful face off of her, revealing someone he hadn't even thought of.

"…L-Lydia?"

Lydia blushed faintly before nodding.

"Plot twist…I'm Bucket Girl."

Stiles' jaw dropped and he couldn't seem to pick it up. His mouth remained open as he stared at the girl he thought had rejected his love only a few hours earlier.

"You knew that I loved you?"

Lydia bit her lip and nodded. Stiles' eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you mad?" She asked him, worriedly.

Stiles shook his head as he pulled her closer to him, grabbing her right hand in his own.

"Of course I'm not," He told her with a smile. "It's perfect. Here I thought, I had fallen in love with two girls and would have to pick between the two of you, but

really I only fell in love with the same girl."

Lydia smiled and looked down.

"Who were you going to pick?" She asked softly, her curiosity getting the best of her. Stiles chuckled and kissed her again.

"You."

Lydia blushed, enjoying the dance she had been waiting for all night.

Stiles reached into his pocket, pulling out a familiar bracelet that she had so dearly missed. He carefully tied it around her wrist securely, returning it to its rightful owner.

"Thank you."

From afar, Scott, Kira, Allison, Isaac, and Liam were watching the meet that they had been waiting for for weeks.

"Wait, so Lydia was Bucket Girl this  _entire_  time?" Scott questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Allison giggled and nodded.

"Yup." She and Isaac said at the same time.

Scott looked at her and Isaac with a weird expression.

"You're kidding," he deadpanned. "Do you know how much easier things would have been if you just told Stiles and I that Lydia was his dream girl?"

Scott shook his head with confusion and fake disappointment as Allison and Isaac laughed.

"Now Scott, where's the fun in that?" Liam asked as he watched Stiles and Lydia dance.

He was happy for her.

"You know, this whole situation sounds oddly familiar to a Disney fairytale we all happen to know…" Isaac commented softly.

Allison looked up at her date with the same realization.

"Yeah…" She agreed. "It sounds awfully similar to—"

"Cinderella." Scott finished, giving them both a weird look. He agreed as well.

Allison smiled as she watched two of her best friends laugh and smile together.

She was so glad that Lydia finally learned to accept to love someone.

"Stiles found his Cinderella." Scott commented.

Allison looked in his direction and grinned.

"Yeah, he did," She agreed. "And Lydia found her Prince."


End file.
